Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
United Kingdom government cabinet minister; 1947–1966
The secretary of state for Commonwealth relations was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for dealing with the United Kingdom's relations with members of the Commonwealth of Nations (its former colonies). The minister's department was the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO).
The position was created in 1947 out of the old positions of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and Secretary of State for India. In 1966, the position was merged with that of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to form that of Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, which was in turn merged with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1968 to create the new position of Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. The equivalent position today is the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
“Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations” enters the record as united Kingdom government cabinet minister; 1947–1966. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Secretary, State and Commonwealth can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Secretary, State and Commonwealth provides the most credible route into that argument.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7444337. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1947, 1966 and 1968.
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This entry incorporates text from “Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.