Colonial Service

The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the authority of the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Colonial Office in London. It did not operate in British India, where the same function was delivered by the Indian Civil Service, nor in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, which was administered by the Sudan Political Service, nor in the internally self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia. History The British Government's overall responsibility for the management of the territories overseas in the early 19th century lay with successive departments dealing with the various colonies and "plantations", until in 1854 a separate Colonial Office was created headed by a Secretary of State for the Colonies. That office was not responsible for the territories of the Indian Empire, including Burma, nor for Sudan which was linked to Egypt, nor for Southern Rhodesia which came under the Dominions Office. In 1966 the Colonial Office was merged with the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO) to form the Commonwealth Office. In 1968 that Office was merged with the Foreign Office, renamed as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which maintained ultimate oversight of the dwindling residual HMOCS personnel until 1997. The historical record of the Colonial Service begins with the publication on 30 March 1837, in the reign of King William IV, of the first set of what became known as Colonial Regulations, relating to "His Majesty's Colonial Service". It can therefore be said to have been the oldest of all the overseas services, predating the formation of the Indian Civil Service in 1858 and the Sudan Political Service in 1899, and in the course of its existence controlled 42 territories.