The literature on the British Empire during the twentieth century is now immense. It includes general studies of the operation of the Empire, regional surveys that examine the effects of policy decisions on the periphery, books on the provision of aid and the development of colonies, and countless monographs on decolonisation. In addition, the impact of colonial development on Britain has been discussed at length in books and articles on the growth of the British economy during the period, and there have been a number of works on the financial relationship between colonial administrations and London, largely concentrating on the Empire's role in the maintenance of the sterling area. There has been little investigation, however, of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of development. Hardly any research has been undertaken on how colonial administrations and their independent successors raised non-aid finance in the UK, how they purchased construction materials and other goods not available locally, how their investments in the London money market were managed, or how they acquired a range of other services that could not be obtained within their own countries.

The reason for this gap in the literature is that, until now, there has been no in-depth study of the twentieth century work of the Office of the Crown Agents for the colonies, which performed these tasks. The Crown Agent office was established in 1833, and, until independence, acted for the administrations of Crown colonies and protectorates, and for public authorities, such as municipalities and utilities boards, that operated in these territories.