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Collection Description

SITE DETAILS

Home Office: Commonwealth Immigration (BSI and CWI Symbol Series) Files

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA
Reference code(s): HO 344
Title: Home Office: Commonwealth Immigration (BSI and CWI Symbol Series) Files
Date(s): 1949 - 1979
Level of description: Series
Extent and medium of the unit of description:

CONTEXT AREA
Name of creator(s): Home Office, Aliens Department (B Department), 1913-1962 Home Office, Immigration and Nationality Department, 1962 Home Office, Community Relations Department, 1970-1972 Home Office, Community Programmes Department, 1972-1977 Home Office, Community Progra
Administrative/Biographical history: The British Nationality Act 1948 confirmed the right of citizens of the Commonwealth, together with the Colonies and the Republic of Ireland, to settle without any restriction in the United Kingdom. Up until 1962 the Home Office Divisions responsible for this work were B1, B2 and A2. In 1962 the Commonwealth Immigration Act introduced the first legislation to limit the right of the above groups to settle in the United Kingdom.

Alongside additional immigration controls at the ports, a new Home Office Division, B3, was formed in 1962 to process difficult cases, apply deportation procedures, and decide policy under the 1962 Act and subsequent legislation (leaving B1 and B2 to deal with the control of Aliens). Applications for naturalization continued as before 1962 to be processed by the renamed A2 Division, which became B4 in 1962 (see HO 213 for the Nationality (NTY) file series). Further restrictions followed in the 1965 and 1968 Commonwealth Immigration Acts. Commonwealth and alien immigration legislation were merged under The Immigration Act 1971. The functions of B3 Division were combined with B1 in 1984.

Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA
Scope and content: The British Subject Immigration (BSI) Series originated in the early 1950s and was replaced by the Commonwealth Immigration (CWI) series in 1962. The files in this series deal with legislative, policy, administrative and social matters relating to immigration from the British colonies, the British Commonwealth and the Republic Of Ireland.

At subseries level within HO 344 relevant records include:

  • Working party on coloured people seeking employment in UK
    Working party to consider certain proposals to restrict right of British subjects from overseas to enter and remain in UK
    Working party to report on social and economic problems arising from growing influx into uk of coloured workers from other Commonwealth countries
    Immigration from India and Pakistan
    Home Office liaison with the Department of Health and Social Security
    Notes of meetings with Home Office Ministers
    Asian United Kingdom citizens in East Africa and India
    Asian United Kingdom passport holders in East Africa.

    Within HO 344, Pieces without a sub-series parent, are a range of files of note, the following sample indicates some of the areas covered:

    • HO 344/10 Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962: implementation in context of immigration from Pakistan 1962-1963
    • HO 344/18: Requests for official inquiries, including Royal Commission into status of ethnic minorities within British society 1956-1959
    • HO 344/37: Possible legislation against racial discrimination 1960-1961 HO 344/43: Causes of racial tension in Notting Hill 1959
    • HO 344/44: Policies to assist assimilation of Commonwealth immigrants into British society 1959-1960,
    • HO 344/45: Establishment of Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Council 1962
    • HO 344/194: Indian Immigrants in Britain (1964), by Rashmi Desai: Home Office views 1964
    • HO 344/291: Letter from Donald Chapman MP, Chairman of British Caribbean Association, requesting meeting to discuss ministerial responsibility to tackle coloured immigration policy 1964-1965
    • HO 344/238: Home Secretary briefing for the Cabinet Office Sub-committee on Integration: appointment of coloured policemen and magistrates, 1965
    • HO 344/242: Pakistan citizens refused admission: concerns over existence of forged employment voucher 1963-1964,
    • HO 344/249: Issue of Entry Certificates for Jamaican nationals: Home Office ministers meetings with the Jamaican High Commissioner,1967
    • HO 344/295: Protests from Jamaican government against British white paper of 2 August 1965 on immigration from the Commonwealth, 1965
    • HO 344/293: Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968: liaison with Indian and Pakistan High Commissions about illegal entrants 1966 -1967.

    Contained within the subseries within HO 344, Immigration from India and Pakistan, other files of note are:

    • HO 344/150: British firms recruiting Indian and Pakistani labour 1958
    • HO 344/152: Suggestion to refuse leave to land to Indians with passports not valid for UK,1958-1961
    • HO 344/153 Increase in immigrants from Pakistan in first quarter of 1961: Pakistan government relax passport restrictions 1961-1962.
    Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
    Accruals:
    System of arrangement: The papers in this series are arranged in numerical order by departmental file number. The date preceding the BSI or CWI reference in the former reference column eg. BSI (61) indicates those files were originally registered as BSI (61) 1/2/8 or BSI (61) 1/2/25 etc, meaning that they were created in 1961. Unfortunately the system was not used properly and some files in both the BSI and CWI series were in fact created in later years than that indicated, eg. CWIi (62) 468/20/9 was created in 1966.

    CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA
    Conditions governing access:
    Conditions governing reproduction:
    Language/scripts of material: English
    Physical characteristics:
    Finding aids: PRO Online Catalogue

    ALLIED MATERIALS AREA
    Existence and location of originals:
    Existence and location of copies:
    Related units of description:
    Publication note:

    DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA
    Recorder's note:
    Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
    Date(s) of descriptions: December 2001

Interest: Caribbean, Black, Asian

Specific group:

INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Interethnic relations
Immigration

Personal/Corporate names

Places

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