International Journal of Naval History

Randolph Cock and N. A. M. Rodger, editors, A Guide to the Naval Records in the National Archives of the UK, London: University of London, School of Advanced Study, Institute of Historical Research, in conjunction with the National Archives of the UK. 379pp., document lists, appendices, index.

Review by Professor John B. Hattendorf

Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island

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This volume presents an invaluable, general introduction and guide for researchers investigating the history of naval affairs in The National Archives of the United Kingdom (TNA), formerly known as the Public Record Office (PRO), in Kew, London . The volume is not a substitute for the archival lists and catalogue (now available on line at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/ ) that comprise a numerical listing of all the archival pieces that may be ordered for research within a record group, but rather it is an overall guide to the numerous archival record groups that contain rich resources for naval history, giving the general range of references to large runs of material and representative samplings of key materials. This volume also supplements and extends the research guide leaflets (which are now also to be found on line at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/researchguidesindex.asp) relating to the history of the Royal Navy. By using the broad background provided by this guide, a researcher will be much better prepared to search in the most fruitful locations.

It is a basic principal of archival management that documents are, whenever possible, maintained in the original order in which they were created by the agency that originally maintained the files.  Thus, in order for an historian to understand how to find the materials needed for research, one must first have an understanding of the administrative history of the agencies involved.  Typically, government agencies corresponded with each other on a range of matters, so it is important to understand that documents on naval history may be found in a variety of places in the records of different agencies. To clarify this, the compilers of this volume have wisely provided a succinct 12-page overview of British administrative history that clearly makes this point. Their summary should forever banish the common, but false, notion that naval records are to be found only in the Admiralty (ADM) record group.

Ranging from the 13^th century to the last quarter of the 20^th century, the guide contains 236 separate lists of different categories of records relating to naval affairs. Each list contains samples of topics to be found, along with the corresponding dates covered and archival references.  An interesting, short example of the usefulness of this Guide may be seen in its List 174, relating to the short-lived Transport Board of 1689-1717. The various records relating to this board are found scattered in various different departmental records. In this case, they may be found in the Admiralty (ADM), State Papers (SP), Audit Office (AO), and Chancery (C) record groups.

In other cases, the compilers note where key portions of the official records have been deposited in another archive, such as the National Maritime Museum or in the Post Office Archive. Also, they include some other major institutional collections, such as the Cambridge University Library, British Library, and the Bodleian Library at Oxford . This information is conveniently noted in the lists alongside the associated documents in the National Archives, giving researchers some important leads to other material.

In the era before the establishment of the Public Record Office, it was not uncommon for senior government officials to take home official government documents and to file them with their personal correspondence. Some of the papers listed in the collections at Oxford , Cambridge , and the British Library fall into this category. The Cock and Rodger Guide to the Naval Records does not attempt to deal with this issue in a comprehensive manner, as it is goes far beyond the scope of this volume. However in their final appendix, they do list the personal naval papers that are held in The National Archives. Quite rightly, they leave the huge subject of personal papers to the comprehensive National Registry of Archives, which can also be searched on line by an individual’s surname or by a corporate name. (See http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra).

The value of this guide goes beyond being a resource for specialists in British naval history. Materials providing insight on other navies are also to be found. For example, there are reports on the French naval officer corps in 1683-1720 (ADM 7/829); on the naval defence of Canada 1850-1901 (ADM 7/937); a report on the Italian Navy in 1914 in the War Office papers (WO 106/752), on the mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy in 1946-47  (WO 208/3816); on the establishment of the Ghana and Nigerian navies in the papers of the Dominion Office in the period 1956-60 (DO 35/9429-30, 10461), and much material on the German Navy in the first half of the twentieth century.

There are a number of interesting files regarding the U.S. Navy. For example, there is correspondence on the U.S. Navy strewn throughout the huge files of the Foreign Office between 1791 and 1907 (FO-115/1-1468); correspondence relating to American prisoners of war in 1812-16 (ADM 98/291-92; 6/417); reports on the state of the United States Navy in 1826-1852 (ADM 7/712); on the US Naval Torpedo Station in 1874 (WO 33/26); on crimping in U.S. ports in 1903 (FO 5/2545); on activities during World War I (FO 155 series); the correspondence of Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, USN, with General Sir Hastings Ismay in 1941 relating to the ABC-1 staff agreements (CAB 127/16), and on negotiations for U.S. naval activities and bases in the UK in 1941 (MT 59/518) and in 1950-64 (DEFE 13/11, 274, and 1006-7); at the Bahamas in 1953 (FO 371/103553); on Gan Island in the Maldives in 1960-63 (DO 196/17); on Diego Garcia in 1967-68 and 1970-71 (FCO 32/110-12; 83/13-15); on Ascension Island in 1967-68 (FCO 42/29) , and in the West Indies in 1967-74 (FCO 44/97, 539, 1005).  As this sampling from several perspectives suggests, this volume is an essential and helpful overview to consult at the outset in planning any naval research in the National Archives of the United Kingdom .