The office created to manage a rebellion was eventually dismantled by it

History · Published 20 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1768, the British government created a specific cabinet position to handle the growing unrest in North America. It was a bureaucratic response to a brewing revolution. However, the very rebellion the office was designed to manage would eventually lead to its first collapse just fourteen years later.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies was established in 1768 specifically to address the 'troublesome' North American colonies following the passage of the Townsend Acts. Before this, colonial responsibilities were split between the lords of trade and plantations and the Secretary of State for the Southern Department. This new role was intended to centralize authority, though the board of trade initially retained some joint responsibility before becoming a mere adjunct to the new department.

The office's first tenure was remarkably brief. Following the loss of the American colonies, King George III dismissed both the board and the short-lived secretaryship on May 2, 1782. The Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782 eventually gave this action official status. For the next several decades, colonial duties were shuffled between the Home Secretary and a combined 'Secretary of State for War and the Colonies,' a merged role that lasted until 1854.

The modern iteration of the Colonial Office emerged in 1854 when military reforms split war and colonial duties into separate departments. The office expanded significantly in the 20th century, absorbing protectorates and League of Nations mandated territories following the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. It remained a distinct entity until 1966, when the dismantling of the British Empire led to its merger with the Commonwealth Relations Office. By 1968, the office was fully subsumed into the Foreign Office, reflecting the transition from an empire of colonies to a commonwealth of independent nations.

Interestingly, the history of the office is punctuated by personal irony: several high-ranking secretaries were born in the very colonies they were tasked with governing. This included Bonar Law, born in the pre-Canada colony of New Brunswick, and Leo Amery, born in British India.

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