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Board of Trade Establishment Department: Marine Establishment (EM Series) Files

Description and record details

Reference BT 235
Title Board of Trade Establishment Department: Marine Establishment (EM Series) Files
Date 1922-1951
Description

Board of Trade Establishment Department files dealing with the Mercantile Marine Branch and the services administered by it.

The files in this series deal with the staffing, pay, conditions of service and accommodation of the mercantile marine services, in particular the Coastguard, Mercantile Marine Offices, Survey Services and the Sea Transport Department. In a few cases they contain later papers of the Establishment and Marine Divisions of the Ministry of Shipping and its successors, the Ministry of War Transport and the Ministry of Transport.

Related material

See also the records of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen and successors:

For other records relating to the mercantile marine services see MT 15

Held by The National Archives, Kew
Legal status Public Record(s)
Language

English

Creator

Board of Trade, Establishment Department, 1865-1946

Board of Trade, Establishment Division, 1946-1970

Physical description 315 file(s)
Administrative/ biographical background

The Marine Department of the Board of Trade was formed in 1850 to administer the Mercantile Marine Act of that year. In 1921 the title was changed to Mercantile Marine Department and in the same year the Sea Transport Department was incorporated following the disbandment of the wartime Ministry of Shipping. In 1923 the department took over responsibility for the Coastguard from the Admiralty. The growth of the Mercantile Marine Department led to the formation of a Mercantile Marine Branch within the Establishment Department in 1923 to deal exclusively with marine matters. In October 1939 the board relinquished its control over merchant shipping which passed to the newly created Ministry of Shipping.