Colonies, General: Original Correspondence

Description and record details

Reference	CO 323
Title	Colonies, General: Original Correspondence
Date	1689-1952
Description	This series contains general records relating to the colonies. It includes: the records formerly known as 'Plantations General' among the Board of Trade correspondence, 1689 to 1780; Law Officers reports on colonial acts; applications for passports and colonial appointments; private correspondence of Earl Bathurst, 1822 to 1825, and R W Hay, 1825 to 1835; and correspondence, including circular despatches, relating to the colonies generally. Between 1801 and 1854, when the departments of War and the Colonies were under the same Secretary of State, much of the correspondence concerns both departments.
Note	A cataloguing project commenced in May 2005 to list the documents in CO 323/623-956 (years 1914 to 1926) to item level; itemised descriptions within this range were released as the cataloguing was completed, and the project was concluded in November 2007.
Related material	See also CO 862 For further circular despatches see CO 854
Held by	The National Archives, Kew
Legal status	Public Record(s)
Language	English
Physical description	1931 files and volumes
Access conditions	Open
Unpublished finding aids	For registers see CO 326 (before 1849) and CO 378, CO 379 and CO 432 (after 1851).
Copies information	Microfilm copies were created as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project (1948-1997). The microfilm images have been digitised and made available online by the National Library of Australia.

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