Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park

Abstract

Following the revelation in 2011 that the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office was sitting on the migrated archives of dozens of colonial governments, almost 20,000 files were transferred from secret storage at Hanslope Park to The National Archives for public inspection. However, 88,000 Hong Kong colonial government records remain at Hanslope Park, some ostensibly protected by a 50-year retention order that will last until 2047. This paper combines data received under the Freedom of Information Act, including files obtained from inside Hanslope Park, with archive material, interviews and former officials’ written accounts to explore the past, present and future of the Hong Kong colonial government records. This paper is the first account of how outgoing officials handled Hong Kong files at the end of the British administration, showing that Operation Legacy played no role in the Hong Kong case and explaining why this was so. This paper explains the current status and extent of this collection and considers possible routes for its release. By contrasting the Hong Kong case with that of other colonies, this paper adds to the growing literature on how outgoing colonial officials handled records towards the end of the British Empire.