Colonial Office.

The British Colonial Office, which came by these papers through an uncertain route, dealt with matters in all the British colonies. John Singleton Copley (one of the main correspondents) was a prolific American portrait painter. Henry Pelham (the other main correspondent) was an English portrait and miniature painter, engraver, and map-maker who was Copley's half brother. A Loyalist, Pelham left Boston for London in 1776. Peter Pelham was an English engraver and portraitist who worked in Boston and Newport, Rhode Island; he married Copley's mother and was Henry's father.