Jennie Hartley asked me whether I knew anything about the history of civil service briefcases - like this one that she had bought at an auction.
I didn’t, but the wonderful Twitter community certainly did. Here is what they told me:-
There were two basic designs. More senior staff were issued with brown leather rectangular cases like these
Others were given black leather or plastic briefcases such as the one bought by Jennie.
Both types of case were issued until around the end of the 1980s. William Rufus Bear told me that ‘They were discontinued because they made it obvious that you were CS and carrying official documents.’ He also added that, when his mother died, she had left her will and all the details required to deal with her estate all together in her old CS briefcase. Efficient to the last!
Tim Jones added that the Foreign Office stopped issuing them because terrorists, too, might use them to identify diplomats.
Laurence Price remembers that ‘there was one very last black leather one kicking around HMRC solicitor's office c.2006-7, when I was a very junior legal contractor. It had the silver crown underneath the flap, so you could discreetly flash it to security guards at court... Oh, the power!’
Colin Talbot told me that a lot of such leather goods were made in Remploy factories that provided employment for disabled former military.
The cases were issued to those who needed them, irrespective of rank.
Evelyn Cook recalls that her husband had one and resisted all efforts to surrender it for the subsequent floppy version. ‘He needed it to take papers off site - mostly Parliament. If you were in the House you needed to take stuff home after debates. This was in 1980’s and he was a Principal/Grade7.’
Others recalled that
I had one like that and had to use it when travelling to EU, UN and OECD overseas meetings when a mere Grade 7. I think it’s in the back of a cupboard at home still.
They were specified as the only means for carrying classified papers outside of the office. I recall I had one and it came with a job which had some especially sensitive content (I had to be PVd for the first time).
Brian Collins used one a lot. ‘Travelling from my institution outside London to meetings in London when carrying material at a certain level of classification. What that level was and I would hope still is is of course of itself sensitive.’
Malcolm Edwards remembers his dad using them when travelling alone in first class, with the whole compartment booked for him, Bath to Glasgow. ‘It was the docs, not him, that merited first class. Different times! ‘ (I suspect that Edwards senior was probably carrying warship design information from MoD Bath to Yarrows on Clydeside.)
They were pretty much a standard item in the Employment Department and the Department of Social Security (later DHSS and DWP) for HEOs and above in 70s. EOs could get them if their role - such as a “Visiting Officer” required it. They carried case notes for all those being visited that day plus extra forms, leaflets & pens.
Linda Tomlinson recalls 'the bundle of dogeared case papers stuffed into my official issue black plastic briefcase! Endless applications for 'exceptional needs payments' for everything from frying pans to Doc Martin work boots! Never a dull day as a DHSS VO!'
Maura also had one. 'I was a "visiting officer" & worked in some of the rougher areas of a city centre. Carrying it made my shoulders ache. I hated it!'
And another ex-colleague remembers that 'Ours was a rural area so few houses had numbers or names. VO notes to 'take lane to left of strawberry field' were especially helpful in December. Happy days though.'
Phil Lowthian remembers using one in 1981 to deliver a summons for unemployment benefit fraud (‘working and signing’) to a person in High Legh Cheshire.
'Turned up at 6pm. Raining. Under (mistaken) impression we had actually to touch the person with the summons. Knocked on the door … no reply. Letter box opened. I fling the summons into letter box and considered it served.
Walking away up the path. Letter box opened again. Said summons flung back at us…. Left it lying in puddle on path way. Closed up briefcase and went to pub.
Magistrates Court a few weeks later: Will he or won’t he turn up? …… he did. Promising career not derailed at first hurdle….
Btw - mine was a plastic version. I was a CO (Clerical Officer) at the time. It was made clear to me that it was not my personal property and I only had it on loan and very specifically for business purposes only . I promise I didn’t carry my butties in it….
Finally, here are some other rather delicious memories:
David McLean remembers that ‘In ye olden Inland Revenue it was briefcase when you got Principal (G7), hatstand when you got your Senior Principal (G6). When I got onto the fast stream as an internal candidate, my tax office clubbed together and bought me a briefcase.’
Another ex-Revenue colleague recalled that ‘at the City of London Collection in the 80's the head honchos had a briefcase with OHMS stamped on them. It was of course coveted by us juniors into 'Only Holds My Sandwiches'‘.
Louise Holden was 'offered an official briefcase on passing my Inspector of Taxes exams in the 90s, but as I recall I took the less official but more practical shoulder bag option instead.'
Andy Jack recalls that "the rest of us had to beg to borrow one when send to deliver urgent stuff if the outdoor messengers were too busy (they had them too)".
Wilma Harper remembers coming back from Brussels and discovering the leather one was the exact size for a couple of bottles of duty free gin.
Ruth Hyde's dad had one in the 60s and 70s. "We children used to call it “ piggy face” because of the way the round brass clasp in the middle looked like a pig’s snout!"
Martin Stanley - Editor - Understanding the Civil Service
PS I haven’t been able to credit everyone who responded to my tweet but I am grateful to them all as they helped build the above picture. And please do let me know if I have got anything wrong .