The Colonial Office was a government department of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but needed also to oversee the increasing number of colonies of the British Empire.
It was headed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, known as the Colonial Secretary.
Read more about Colonial Office: First Colonial Office (1768 – 1782), Second Colonial Office (1854 – 1966), Timeline, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words colonial and/or office:
“Are you there, Africa with the bulging chest and oblong thigh? Sulking Africa, wrought of iron, in the fire, Africa of the millions of royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, are you there? Slowly you vanish, you withdraw into the past, into the tales of castaways, colonial museums, the works of scholars.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)
“This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)