Newsgroups: soc.roots
Date:         Thu, 20 Aug 1992 17:16:18 SST
Reply-To:     Richard Pennell <HISCRP@NUSVM.BITNET>
From:         Richard Pennell <HISCRP@NUSVM.BITNET>
Subject:      pro material

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(C) CROWN COPYRIGHT, FEBRUARY 1988. THIS MATERIAL MAY BE FREELY
REPRODUCED EXCEPT FOR SALE OR ADVERTISING PURPOSES.
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PASSPORT RECORDS

Before the First World War it was rare for someone travelling
abroad to apply for a passport. The monarch had, until the 17th
century, the prerogative right to control the movement of his
subjects overseas, and records of applications for and grants of
permission to leave the kingdom are to be found among the records
of Chancery and the Exchequer. During the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, passports were issued more frequently, although it was
only in 1846 that regulations relating to applications for
passports were first formulated. Passports were issued to British-
born subjects for a single journey and could be used for any
subsequent journey only if countersigned afresh by the ministers or
consuls of the countries which the holder intended to visit.
Possession of a passport, however, was confined largely to
merchants and diplomats, and the vast majority of those travelling
overseas had no formal document.
Since 1915, possession of a passport for foreign travel has become
much more common, although it is still, in the United Kingdom, not
a strict legal requirement. Information held in the Public Record
Office on individual passport-holders is scanty; the Office does
not hold completed application forms, except for a small sample
illustrating the treatment accorded to applications of various
types.
The main classes of records dealing with passports and the Passport
Office are as follows:

LICENCES TO PASS BEYOND THE SEAS (E 157)

This class consists of two boxes of registers of soldiers taking
the oath of allegiance before going to serve in the low countries,
1613-24, and of licences to persons going abroad, chiefly to
Holland, 1624-32, Also included are a list of licences to pass
beyond the seas, 1572-78, and several registers of passengers to
New England, Barbados and other colonies, 1634-9, with one of 1677.
The registers have been printed in J C Hotten ORIGINAL LISTS OF
PERSONS EMIGRATING TO AMERICA, 1600-1700 (London 1874).

ENTRY BOOKS AND REGISTERS

Entry Books of passes issued by the Secretaries of State between
1697 and 1784 are in the State papers, SP 44/386-411. A further
entry book of passes, some signed by the King, between 1748 and
1794 is FO 366/544. Earlier entries usually give an abstract or
copy of the pass, but from January 1793 there is merely a name and
a date. There is no index.
Registers from 1795 to date (available 30 years after the date of
the last entry) are in FO 610. The entries are chronological and
show merely the date, the number of the passport issued and the
name of the applicant. Early registers also show where the
applicant was going and by whom he was recommended. A fresh series
was started on the appointment of a new Foreign Secretary. For
March to May 1915 the register is FO 613/2.

INDEXES

Indexes of names of passport applicants are in FO 611. These cover
the years 1851-1862 and 1874-1916.  For the latter period the index
is not strictly alphabetical. There is a cut for the initial letter
of each surname. Within the cut the names are listed
chronologically. The indexes record solely the name, the number of
the passport and the date of issue.

CORRESPONDENCE

Volumes of the correspondence of the Passport Office were kept in
rough chronolOgiCal order from 1815 to 1905 (FO 612/1-71)   There
is no subject index.  From 1906 representative subject files are
preserved, illustrating the work of the Office. Reference to such
files from 1906 to 1920 is by means of the Foreign Office card
index in the Reference Room at Kew; the files selected for
permanent preservation are mostly among the records of the Treaty
Department (FO 372).  From 1921 such files are to be found in FO
612/72-267. There are registers of correspondence for the years
1868, 1893 and 1898-1905 (FO 613/l-4). Two volumes of
correspondence relating to the issuing of passports by British
embassies and consulates and dating from 1886 and 1897-1900,
respectively, are in FO 614/1-2.

REPRESENTATIVE CASE PAPERS

A small selection of papers illustrating the treatment accorded to
applications for various types of passportS, visas and
certificates, and dating from 1920 to date is preserved in FO
737/1-109.

REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES OF PASSPORTS ISSUED

A highly miscellaneous sample of passports is kept in FO 655. It
includes some passports issued in the late 18th and early 19th
centuries by foreign missions in Great Britain to British subJects
wishing to travel abroad. This practice ceased in 1858. There is
also a large selection of passports issued from British embassies,
consulates and high commissions. There are also some foreign
passports which, for some reason or another (usually cases of dual
nationality), have ended up in the hands of the Passport Office.
The passports are listed haphazardly, giving date and place of
issue. For the early accretions to the class (up to piece 1839)
there is a separate index available listing the passports
alphabetically by place of issue.

COLONIAL AND CONSULAR CLASSES
Apart from material in the representative classes mentioned above,
there is much information (and on occasion an entry book) to be
found in the records of the relevant consulate, or embassy or
colony. Guides to the records of the Colonial Office and the
Foreign Office are available at the Reference Desk.
(C) Crown Copyright, February 1987 This material may be freely
reproduced except for sale or advertising purposes.
Records of the Exchequer (E) and Chancery (C) may be seen only at
the PRO, Chancery Lane. Records of the Foreign Office (FO) may be
seen only at the PRO, Kew .