The Hidden Records in the archives of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

When the Chagos Islands were inhabited, records of Births, Deaths and Marriages were maintained for each Island or Island Group. These important records document generations of Chagossians who were born, lived and died on the islands from at least the late 1800s until they were removed by the British Government in 1973.

These Registers include the following islands and time periods:

• Diego Garcia 1901-1965
• Peros Banhos 1884-1965
• Salomon Islands 1899-1965
• British Indian Ocean Territory 1965-1971

But where are these records and who may access them? The answer emerged in a recent enquiry to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office following the discovery of letter dating from 1976 in the National Archives at Kew, London.

It seems that about 750 Registers were transferred from the Seychelles to the UK when the BIOT Administration moved in 1976. On 27 May 1976 the BIOT Administrator wrote to the Hong Kong and Indian Ocean Department in the FCO:

I have just discovered that in addition to the BIOT files we have in the Seychelles Archives in Victoria some 750 registers of births, deaths and marriages relating to Chagos, which date from 1878 to 1971 and which weigh around 3 cwt. It would be by far the most convenient arrangement, I think, to leave these in the Seychelles Archives, where they could be available to any interested persons for reference purposes, as I am told by the Registrar General that individuals, usually originating from Mauritius, in fact make enquiries about these records from time to time. I think that if it is known by all concerned that the registers are held in the Archives here and are available to bone fide enquirers, there will be no particular need to have them transported to London. However I should be grateful if you could let me know what you want done with them. [Folio 13 FCO 40/738]

The reply from London was dated 3 June 1976:

As regards the registers of births, deaths and marriages relating to Chagos, we feel it important that, if the administration of what is left of BIOT is transferred to London, all the records should also be moved here. I should be grateful, therefore, if you would arrange for the registers to be despatched to: Mr B A Major, East African Department, FCO, London SW1. In the event of future individual enquiries from Mauritius about these old records, I suggest that you advise the Registrar General simply to refer or forward them to the Administrator - BIOT, at the same address. [Folio 16 FCO 40/738]

No Public Access

The Registers were indeed returned to the UK and then secreted away in the FCO's archives at Hanslope Park, outside London where there is no public access. They remain there today (2018) and for the last 42 years Chagossians, their families and other researchers have been unable to access them. They should have been released to the National Archives by 2001 at the latest but were not.

When asked how Chagossians might access them, the FCO advised that there was currently no need to transfer these records to the National Archives (where any member of the public may go and inspect them), because another UK Government agency, the General Register Office also held copies and these were supposedly accessible.

So what did the General Register Office say? "NO - we don't have these records".

So it seems that only the FCO hold these records in secret and they are in no hurry to release them. The response to several Parliamentary Questions asked by Patrick Grady (MP for Glasgow North) in July and October 2018 displays the lack of concern or urgency from the FCO:

The status of the Chagos Registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and where they may ultimately be deposited, is still under consideration as part of the department's ongoing programme of records appraisal. To put this in context, there are around 600,000 non-standard files held the in the FCO Archives, along with around the same number of standard departmental files. FCO Archives Management Team has a rolling programme of considering these files for transfer to The National Archives (TNA), which is based on an agreed prioritisation.