Open secrets: The British 'migrated archives', colonial history, and postcolonial history

Abstract

In 2011, the British government revealed that it held an irregular archive of thousands of files from thirty-seven former colonies. British authorities had covertly removed these documents around the time of transfers of power, from the later 1940s to the 1980s. The disclosure was prompted by a legal action brought against the British government by five Kenyans - Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, Paulo Nzili, Wambugu wa Nyingi, Jane Muthoni Mara, and Susan Ngondi - who had suffered horrific abuse by British forces during the 1950s.1 The British government at first denied holding any records relevant to the so-called 'Mau Mau case', but on 5 April 2011 the Foreign Office minister Lord Howell admitted to parliament that it had been 'general practice' for British authorities to remove documents from colonies, and that the Foreign Office still held these records.