Despatches : 1784-1867.

            While the records in the Governor's and Lieutenant Governor's Offices of Upper Canada, Lower Canada and Prince Edward Island were transferred to the Governor General's Office at the time of Confederation, the New Brunswick records were sent to the Colonial Office in London by the Administrator, Charles Hastings Doyle. In 1921 the British Government returned the records to the Public Archives of Canada for preservation in Canada.
            

            The Despatches are divided into four sections as follows:

Despatches Received - Despatches and enclosures received by the Lieutenant Governor or the Chief Administrator of the Colony from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Governor General of Canada, the British Minister at Washington, Governors and Lieutenant Governors, and other officials, both public and private.
 
Despatches Sent - Letter Book and contemporary copies of numbered despatches and enclosures sent from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick to the officials as named above.  Private and confidential correspondence has not been recorded.
 
Civil Government Letter Books -  These despatches differ from the volumes of Despatches Sent in that they include private, confidential and secret despatches not meant for disclosure to the Legislature.

 Indexes - There are several volumes of schedules of despatches for the years 1789-1790 and 1848-1867.   Usually the despatch number, date, subject of the despatch, number of enclosures and page references are included.  Between April 1848 and July 1867 there is a subject and name index to Despatches Received and Despatches Sent.
             

            The last reel of the series contains the registers for a number of volumes.

A list of contents can be found at the beginning or at the end of most volumes.  The contents pages have been transcribed by staff at the Harriet Irving Library, University of New Brunswick and are available in print.
A detailed inventory and a microfilm shelf list are available in print.            

Researchers are advised that material related to the New Brunswick Despatches can be found in two series: Great Britain. Colonial Office 188: Correspondence and Great Britain. Colonial Office 189: Entry Books. this material is available in the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.

There are two copies of the New Brunswick Despatches in the Loyalist Collection.

Reel 35, Despatches Sent, 1852-1853, is missing (Feb. 2020).