A crown agency was an administrative body of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading post ...

, distinct from the

Civil Service Commission A civil service commission is a government agency that is constituted by legislature to regulate the employment and working conditions of civil servants, oversee hiring and promotions, and promote the values of the public service. Its role is rough ...

of Great Britain or the government administration of the national entity in which it operated. These enterprises were overseen from 1833 to 1974 by the Office of the Crown Agents in London, thereafter named the Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administration. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations Ltd became a private limited company providing development services in 1996. Today the term is also used to refer to state-controlled companies in some states of the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...

Office of the Crown Agencies

Operation

Crown agencies nominally reported directly to (and were wholly owned by) the Crown, but in practice, reported to the Crown Agency Office in London, thus independent of the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

. This office became, in the late 19th century, the sole official British commercial and financial agent of all British protectorates and

Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...

. The Colonial Office enforced a policy of sole usage of crown agencies for all purchases of goods for government use, creating a virtual monopoly over government retail supply within the colonies of the

. The crown agencies also became financial institutions, supplying capital, routes for investment, and pensions to all public works and government in British dependent colonies (excluding such Dominions as Canada or Australia). Crown Agencies were the bodies responsible for all large projects such as railway or harbour construction throughout British Africa, India, and the West Indies.

History

Crown agencies trace their founding to the time of the

and in 1833 the British government, hived off from the

as a financing, stores, transport, and development (to use a modern term) office. Historians have argued that crown agencies, whose organisations operated across the British Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were the de facto administrators of British colonies. Crown agencies welded governmental powers through the maze of British, territories, protectorates, dependencies, mandates, and Crown colonies which

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legall ...

made up the British Empire of the late 19th century. From 1833 to 1880, they also operated in areas with

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...

status. After this, their mandate was reduced to "dependent" colonies (most of British Africa, India, and the West Indies), but they were given near monopoly rights over finance and supply of non-local manufactures for any public or government use. With the dissolution of the British Empire, many of these agencies reverted to control by their respective governments, became parts of the British government, or became

non-governmental organisations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

. The central Crown Agency Office became involved in the

secondary banking Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

sector, but the

secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 The secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 was a dramatic crash in British property prices that caused dozens of small ("secondary") lending banks to be threatened with bankruptcy. Crisis The secondary banks, like the larger institutions, had b ...

drove the office into a debt of over £2 million and the office filed for bankruptcy in 1974. The British government at the time found the office useful for overseas development and, argues one writer, enabled aid to be channelled to British goods, while providing cover for unsavoury expenditures such as arms sales. This last function was carried out by what was originally a wholly owned subsidiary of the Crown Agency Office,

Millbank Technical Services Millbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Millbank is located by the River Thames, east of Pimlico and south of Westminster. Millbank is known as the location of major government offices, Burberry headquarters, the Millb ...

(1967–79, when it was transferred to the Ministry of Defence and renamed), which has since been accused of

Neocolonial Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, gl ...

involvement in former British colonies and covert arms sales. The British government incorporated the Crown Agency Office as a government-mandated corporation tied to the

Minister of Overseas Development The minister of state for development and Africa, formerly the minister of state for development and the secretary of state for international development, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The offi ...

, called the ''Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administration''. In 1997, the Crown Agency Office was privatised. As a private

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

, the CAOGA has a number of contracts to provide governmental or para-governmental services throughout the world, such as providing the

customs services Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

of the

Government of Angola The Cabinet of Angola is the chief executive body of the Republic of Angola. References External linksgoverno.gov.ao(in Portuguese) Cabinet Angolan ministers Ministers Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_ ...

Contemporary usage

The legal category of crown agencies still exists in some nations of the former British Empire. In most places, these have been replaced by government agencies, state-controlled companies, and (in parts of the Commonwealth)

Crown Corporations A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

. Canada and New Zealand maintain the category of government managed or government owned entities called Crown Agencies that report to the sovereign governments in the countries where they operate.

Canada

In Canada, the term "crown agency" may refer to any government agency, created by statute, which does not report to a government ministry.

CN Rail The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

and the

Ontario Heritage Foundation The Ontario Heritage Trust (french: link=no, Fiducie du patrimoine ontarien) is a non-profit agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture. It is responsible for protecting, preserving and promoting the built, natural and cultural herita ...

are examples under Canadian law of crown agencies.

New Zealand

The term is also used under New Zealand law to designate state owned enterprises which do not report directly to a single Ministry.

Crown bodies

In the United Kingdom, the term is sometimes used to refer to Crown bodies: public bodies which have Crown status, meaning that material which they produce is subject to Crown copyright protection.

References

External links

Crown Agency Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.48

Directors of Crown Corporations: An Introductory Guide to Their Roles and Responsibilities
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (2002). {{Portal bar, British Empire, Monarchy Governance of the British Empire Commonwealth realms Legal history of Canada Legal history of New Zealand Public economics