Whitehall in 1900: The Colonial Office

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Arthur H. Beavan had this to say about the Colonial Office in Imperial London, first published in 1901:

Up Downing Street on the left was the Colonial Office, of late a much more prominent Department than of old.

Through it the Crown's authority, such as it was, over the self-governing colonies, was exercised, and Governors were nominated, the direct executive action of the office being confined almost entirely to the Crown colonies, and here its sub-division, the office of the Crown Agents for the colonies, managed the affairs of such British possessions as West Indies, Straits Settlements, etc, etc, which had not yet assumed the political toga virilis, nor attained to that ideal of the Chamberlain-Birmingham school, the dignity and bliss of self-government.

Attached to the Colonial Office was a useful Emigrants' Information Bureau, also accessible to the public, did they but know of its existence.

There was in the Crown Colonies division an excellent reference library, where every information about the Crown Colonies could be readily obtained, books, blue-books, pamphlets and maps examined, and extracts taken with great comfort.