- Call Number:
- HIL-MICL FC LPR .G7C6P7C6
- Category:
- Great Britain
- Creator:
- Great Britain. Colonial Office.
- Material Description:
- 62 microfilm textual records (111 volumes) ; 35 mm
- Background:
The Colonial Office predates the formal origination of this department responsible for the administration of British colonies. Included is correspondence found in the office of the Board of Trade from 1769 to 1782 when the Board of Trade's colonial function was terminated, and in the office of the secretary of state responsible for the colonies. The later secretary of state correspondence is arranged within the following subject headings: Despatches (letters of the Governors), Offices (letters of government departments and other organisations), Individuals (arranged alphabetically) and Miscellaneous. Not all categories are consistently and clearly present, especially in the early years.
Formerly a French colonial possession under the name Ile St Jean (St Johns), the island was annexed by the British in 1758 and from 1763 was governed as part of Nova Scotia. St Johns became a separate colony in 1769 and was renamed Prince Edward Island in 1798. In 1873 the island became a province of Canada.
- Contents:
The collection consists of correspondence, despatches and reports from the colonial governors, lieutenant governors and administrators of Prince Edward Island to their colonial representative in Britain, which may contain enclosures. The records contain an unusually large number of draft out-letters, as well as copies of contemporary newspapers; minutes and journals of the legislature; shipping returns; copies of bills and acts, and correspondence from other sources. The correspondence also includes many special subject volumes relating to land tenure; political and judicial matters; responsible government; and numerous other matters which, taken together, provide a particularly rich class of correspondence for this colony.
Arrangement: The first seven volumes are arranged in a rough chronological order. From Volume 8 (1782), the arrangement follows more closely the usual system for colony classes. Document numbering restarts with each volume.
Partial Content List - Reels 1-15, Volumes 1-39, 1769-1823 (See Electronic Finding Aid section for more.)
Reel 1
* CO 410 volumes 1 and 2 start the reel. Entry Books of Correspondence: Vancouver Island: Letters of Secretary of State; 1849 July 21 - 1864 November 1; 1864 November 16 - 1867 January 10.
Volume 1, Board of Trade, 1769-1777
Volume 2, Board of Trade, 1779-1782
Reel 2
Volume 3, Board of Trade, 1772-1818
Volume 4, Board of Trade, 1769 Nov. 10 - 1771 Oct. 18
Volume 5, Board of Trade, 1771 Nov. 3 - 1773 Sept. 2
Volume 6, Board of Trade, 1773 Nov. 15-1777 Dec. 30
Reel 3 (Rest of the volumes are Secretary of State.)
Volume 7, Secretary of State, 1777 Nov. 19 - 1781 Nov. 22
Volume 8, 1782 Jan. 25 - 1785 May 1, Despatches
Volume 9, 1782-1785, Miscellaneous
Volume 10, 1785 Aug. 1 - 1786 Dec. 6, Despatches; 1785 Oct. 25 - 1787 Feb. 5, Miscellaneous
Reel 4
Volume 11, 1787 June 10 - 1787 Nov. 1, Despatches; 1787 Sept. 25 - 1787 Nov. 26, Miscellaneous
Volume 12, 1787 Nov. 1 - 1789 Aug. 21, Despatches; 1788 Jan. 15 - 1789 Dec. 1, Miscellaneous
Reel 5
Volume 12, 1787 Nov. 1 - 1789 Aug. 21, Despatches; Jan. 15 - Dec. 1 1789, Miscellaneous ff. 180 -
Volume 13, 1789 Nov. 23 - 1791 Nov. 11, Despatches; 1790 Jan. 7 - 1791 Nov. 18, Miscellaneous to ff. 261
Reel 6
Volume 13, 1789 Nov. 23 - 1791 Nov. 11, Despatches; 1790-1791 Jan. 7 - Nov. 18, Miscellaneous, ff. 261-
Volume 14, 1791 Dec. 2 - 1794 Aug. 13, Despatches; 1791 Nov. 18 - 1794 May, Miscellaneous. Outsize documents on reel 62
Volume 15, 1795 May 20 - 1798 Oct. 19, Despatches to ff. 165
Reel 7
Volume 15, 1795 May 20 - 1798 Oct. 19, Despatches, ff. 165 -
Volume 16, 1798 Nov. 27 - 1800 Nov. 28, Despatches; 1792 March 18 - 1800 Nov. 27, Miscellaneous
Volume 17, 1801
Volume 18, 1802 to ff. 188
Reel 8
Volume 18, 1802
Volume 19, 1803
Volume 20, 1804-1805
Reel 9
Volume 21, 1806
Volume 22, 1807
Volume 23, 1808
Reel 10
Volume 24, 1809
Volume 25, 1810-1811
Volume 26, 1812
Volume 27, 1813, Despatches; Offices and Individuals
Reel 11
Volume 28, 1813, Charges against Chief Justice Colclough and others
Volume 29, 1814, Despatches; Offices and Individuals
Volume 30, 1815, Despatches; Offices and Individuals
Reel 12
Volume 31, 1816, Despatches; Offices and Individuals
Volume 32, 1817
Reel 13
Volume 33, 1817, Mr. Palmer's case
Volume 34, 1818, Despatches; Offices and Individuals to ff. 306
Reel 14
Volume 34, 1818, Despatches; Offices and Individuals, ff. 306-
Volume 35, 1819, Despatches; Offices and Individuals
Volume 36, 1820, Despatches; Offices and Individuals to ff. 160
Reel 15
Volume 36, 1820, Despatches; Offices and Individuals, ff. 160-
Volume 37, 1822, Despatches; Offices and Individuals
Volume 39, 1823, Despatches; Offices and Individuals to ff. 201
- Originals:
The original documents, which are in The Loyalist Collection on microfilm, are held by The National Archives in London, and were produced from a microfilm copy at Library and Archives Canada.
- Archival Ref. No.:
TNA (formerly PRO) CO 226.
- Finding Aids:
Internal lists of documents for each volume are usually found on the film after 1816 at the end of the "Despatches" category (the first section), or at the end of each volume. These lists are organised by date and provide the document no. and general subject matter (the doc. no. referred to in these lists is the number at the top left of each document). Not until 1825 do internal content lists for the "Public Offices" and "Miscellaneous" or "Individuals" categories begin to appear systematically. Internal lists as a whole stop at 1869 after a few years of incomplete listings.
Transcripts: Some portions exist also in the form of transcripts, produced separately by Library and Archives Canada from originals in England. These are known as "Prince Edward Island A."
- Online: Transcripts done by Library and Archives Canada for CO 226 are available through Canadiana.ca, digitized from LAC's microfilm.
- Online: A calendar to transcript Volumes 1-16 (1763-1801) was published in the Public Archives of Canada Report, 1895. This is available online via Hathitrust.org. These reports in print are available in the government documents collection at the Harriet Irving Library (HIL-Gov FN45 R426).
- Online: Library and Archives Canada has created a calendar to transcripts from 1802 to 1840, and is available via the Archives' catalogue record for CO 226, titled Calendar of Prince Edward Island State Papers, Lieutenant Governor's Correspondence, 1802-1840.
Related Fining Aid: See Colonial Office. Registers and Indexes...for chronological listing with brief abstracts of correspondence from the governor; as well as alphabetical index - subject and proper name - people and places. A microfilm shelf list correlating The Loyalist Collection microfilm reels with the volumes is available in print and as a PDF.
- PDF Finding Aid:
- Microfilm Shelflist.pdf
- Notes:
A series of transcripts known as Prince Edward Island "A" was prepared many years ago by the Public Archives of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada) and includes additionally material from the Dartmouth Papers (LAC MG 23, A 1), which explains the earlier dates than found in the originals.
CO 410/1 & 2 appear at the start of Reel 1. Entry Books of Correspondence: Vancouver Island: Letters of Secretary of State; 1849 July 21 - 1864 November 1; 1864 November 16 - 1867 January 10.