The Downing Street Policy Unit[i] has been part of the inner workings of British government for half a century. It was created by Prime Minister Harold Wilson in March 1974.[ii] All successive prime ministers have retained the Policy Unit, adapting …
Today is the memorial service for the former foreign secretary Lord (Peter) Carrington, who died July 2018 aged 99. We remember a life-time of his public service and his time as foreign secretary.
The Prime Minister's Secretariat (the 'Garden Suburb') was formed 100 years ago, to support David Lloyd George in the conduct of the war. But would it still be needed once hostilities came to an end?
Learn how the General Register Office, responsible for the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales, coped with the extra demands which resulted from the First World War.
![Extract of the draft note from 2 January 1917 on 10 Downing Street headed paper which reads 'To: The Private Secretary, the Prime Minister has decided, with a view to keeping himself in close touch with the several departments, to establish a ['Secretariat' is crossed out and replaced by 'Department'] in connection with Office of the First Lord of the Treasury. The following gentlemen have been appointed to act as secretaries to the ['First Lord of the Treasury' is crossed out and replaced by 'new Department']](https://history.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/01/edited-1024x753.jpg)
...a substantial concern. In a note drafted in March 1918 Adams provided an assessment of the performance of the Garden Suburb. He described how team members maintained ‘free and informal’...
...At the bottom of the list of attendees at the 9 December War Cabinet meeting are two names: Lieutenant-Colonel Sir M.P.A Hankey, described as the ‘Secretary’; and Lieutenant-Colonel W. Dally...
During the First World War there was a huge increase in the number of women engaged in areas of work which had previously been dominated by men. One of these was clerical work within the Civil Service. Women had worked …
The title quote of this piece in fact refers to married women in the civil service and comes from a document dated 1947 which states “To us, married women have been, to quote the Treasury – “a perfect nuisance” . …
The Colonial Office and the Foreign Office have very distinct histories. The British Colonies were initially administered jointly by the Secretary of State for War, and the Board of Trade, who were focused on their own interests, not necessarily the Colonies themselves. From 1795 all …
‘In an office like ours, which is engaged solely on war work, it is often a matter of extreme difficulty to decide whether a man’s duty is to remain in his present post or to join the Army’ (National Archives …