The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO),

Chancery Lane Chancery Lane is a one-way street that forms part of the City of London#Boundary, western boundary of the City of London. The east side of the street is entirely within the City,City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, was the guardian of the national

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

s of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

from 1838 until 2003, when it was merged with the Historical Manuscripts Commission to form The National Archives, based in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

. It was under the control of the Master of the Rolls, a senior judge. The Public Record Office still exists as a legal entity, as the enabling legislation has not been modified.

History

19th century

The Record Commissions were a series of six royal commissions of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and (from 1801) the

which sat between 1800 and 1837 to inquire into the custody and public accessibility of the state archives. The Commissions emphasised the poor conditions and variety of places in which records were held. As a result, the ( 1 & 2 Vict. c. 94) was passed to "keep safely the public records". The act established the Public Record Office, a non-ministerial department under the keepership of the Master of the Rolls, a senior judge whose job originally had included responsibility for keeping the records of the

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...

, who appointed a Deputy Keeper as Chief Record Keeper. The first Master of the Rolls to take on this responsibility was Lord Langdale (d.1851) although his Deputy Keeper, the historian Sir Francis Palgrave (who wrote a voluminous work on ancient

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

s, many of which were housed in the PRO), had full-time responsibility for running the Office. The Office's original premises were the mediaeval Rolls Chapel (the former Domus Conversorum, a chapel for Jews who had converted to Christianity), on

, near the border with the City of Westminster. Some of the records were court or departmental archives (established for several centuries) which were well-run and had good or adequate catalogues; others were little more than store-rooms. Many of the professional staff of these individual archives simply continued their existing work in the new institution. Many documents were transferred from the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

and the

Chapter House A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

of Westminster Abbey, though

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

was not moved from Westminster Abbey until 1859, when proper storage had been prepared. National-archives

Until 1852 no right existed for the general public to consult the records freely, even for scholarly purposes, despite the intention of the Public Record Office Act 1838 to enable public access. Fees were payable by lawyers who in return were permitted to consult a limited number of documents. These charges were abolished for serious historical and literary researchers after a petition was signed in 1851 by 83 people including

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

and the historians Lord Macaulay and

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

. Between 1851 and 1858 a purpose-built archive repository was built next to the Rolls Chapel, to the design of the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Sir James Pennethorne, and following the chapel's demolition due to structural unsoundness, was extended onto that original site between 1895 and 1900.

20th century

Cmglee London Maughan Library original cell

The growing size of the archives held by the PRO and by government departments led to the Public Records Act 1958, which sought to avoid the indiscriminate retention of huge numbers of documents by establishing standard selection procedures for the identification of those documents of sufficient historical importance to be kept by the PRO. Even so, growing interest in the records produced a need for the Office to expand, and in 1977 a second building was opened at

in south-west London. The Kew building was expanded in the 1990s and by 1997 all records had been transferred from Chancery Lane either to Kew or to the Family Records Centre in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, North London. The Chancery Lane building was acquired by

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

in 2001, and is now the Maughan Library, the university's largest library.

Merger with the Historical Manuscripts Commission

In April 2003 the PRO merged with the Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC) to form The National Archives. The HMC moved from its previous office, also located off Chancery Lane, to Kew in 2004. The National Archives of Scotland and the

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a division within the Engaged Communities Group of the Department for Communities (DfC). The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is dist ...

were and remain separate institutions.

Functions

The archive held the official collection of records of public business for England,

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and the central

UK government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

, including the records of

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

proceedings going back to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, and the original manuscript of

Public access

Under the 1958 act, most documents held by the PRO were kept "closed" (or secret) for 50 years: under an amending act of 1967 this period was reduced to 30 years (the so-called " thirty year rule"). These provisions changed significantly when the UK's Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into full effect in 2005: the 30 year rule was abolished and closed records in The National Archives became subject to the same access controls as other records of public authorities. Some records do remain closed for longer periods, however: individual

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

returns, for example, are kept closed for 100 years.

Deputy Keepers and Keepers

From 1838 to 1958 the nominal head of the office, known as the Keeper of the Records, was the Master of the Rolls of the day. The chief executive officer who oversaw the office's day-to-day operations was known as the Deputy Keeper of the Records. Deputy Keepers from 1838 to 1958 were: *1838–1861: Sir Francis Palgrave *1861–1878: (Sir) Thomas Duffus Hardy *1878–1886: (Sir) William Hardy *1886–1926: (Sir) Henry Maxwell Lyte *1926–1938: Alfred Edward Stamp *1938–1947: (Sir) Cyril Thomas Flower *1947–1954: (Sir)

Hilary Jenkinson Sir Charles Hilary Jenkinson (1 November 1882 – 5 March 1961)Johnson and Brodie 2008. was a British archivist and archival theorist, regarded as the figure most responsible for bringing continental European concepts of archival theory to t ...

*1954–1958: (Sir) David Lewis Evans The 1958 act transferred responsibility for the PRO from the Master of the Rolls to the

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

; and the title of the chief executive was changed to Keeper of Public Records. The Keepers from 1958 to 2003 were: *1958–1960: Sir David Lewis Evans *1960–1966: Stephen Wilson *1966–1970: Harold Cottam Johnson *1970–1978: Jeffery Raymond Ede *1978–1982: Alfred Mabbs *1982–1988: Geoffrey Martin *1988–1991: Michael Roper *1991–2003: Sarah Tyacke (became Chief Executive of The National Archives, and retired 2005)