Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Provincial Secretary and Registrar's Office
Other form(s) of name
Secretary's Office
Provincial Secretary's Office
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Although no provision was made in the Constitutional Act of 1791 for the appointment of a Provincial Secretary, William Jarvis was named to the position on 31 December 1791.
Originally, the administration of business in the province was split between the Private (or Civil) Secretary's Office and the Provincial Secretary's Office, with the later assuming a primarily clerical role. A report by John Macaulay, Civil Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor, to the Assembly in 1839 recommended a new, more equitable, division of labour, with the Private Secretary's role being restricted to aiding the Lieutenant Governor with business involving contact with British Government including the Secretary of State and the heads of other governments. The Provincial Secretary would deal with matters of local concern.
The functions of the two offices were rearranged along these lines by Lord Sydenham in July 1841. As well, the Union Act (Imp. Act of 3 & 4 Vict., c. 35) required that monies be set aside for two provincial secretaries and their offices -- one in Canada East and one in Canada West. In 1852 a single Provincial Secretary was appointed for the whole of the Province of Canada; there remained, however, separate branches of the office in each of the Canadas.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
The Provincial Secretary and Registrar was responsible for recording and registering the transactions of other government officials and ratified all important commissions and appointment through his control of the Great Seal and the Privy Seal of the Province. He also maintained a security copy of various records as well as the original, signed copy of the Statutes. All questions raised in the Legislature requiring parliamentary returns were channelled through his office. He transmitted copies of all proclamations to the Government Printer for inclusion in the Upper Canada Gazette and compiled the annual Blue Books for submission to the Imperial Government. His office served as a patents office: models of all inventions were required to be lodged there prior to the issuance of a patent. All applications for the payment of money required a warrant signed by the Provincial Secretary before payment could be made. In its duties as Registrar, the office made searches, supplied certified copies of land patents and other documents, and made returns to the government.
Address
No authorizing agent could be identified for this agency.
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Related entity
Identifier of related entity
Category of relationship
Type of relationship
Dates of relationship
Description of relationship
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Epithet
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Olga Bishop, Publications of the Province of Upper Canada and of Great Britain, 1791-1840, pp. 115-116.
Olga Bishop, Publications of the Province of Canada, 1841-1867, p. 272
J.E. Hodgetts, Pioneer Public Service (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1955), pp. 29-30.
"Report of Mr. Secretary Macaulay on the new arrangement of the Offices of the Private and Provincial Secretaries", Journals of the Legislative Assembly, 4th Session, 13th Parliament, Appendix 1, pp. 310-322
Maintenance notes
Name does not appear in Canadiana Authorities, 2000-10-05 Form of name appears to vary."
Archivist(s):
Gray