India Office Council Chamber

The India Office Council Chamber is the work of the architect Matthew Digby Wyatt, who was responsible for designing and decorating the interior of the new India Office building from 1861 to 1868.

The Secretary of State for India and his Council met in this Chamber to discuss policy affecting the subcontinent, and many important decisions were taken here between 1868 and 1947. The significance of this room is emphasised by its height, size and the lavish use of gilding, and Wyatt linked old with new by transferring to it the great doors and doorcases, the furniture and the great marble chimneypiece from the former Director’s Court Room in East India House at Leadenhall Street in the City.

The Chimney piece and overmantel were commissioned from the Flemish sculptor Michael Rysbrack and date from 1730. The centre panel represents Britannia, seated by the sea, receiving the riches of the East Indies. Behind stand two female figures symbolising Asia and Africa, the former leading a camel, the latter a lion. On the right, a river god represents the Thames, while in the background ships are going off to sea.

The splendidly carved and ornamented chairs and tables which used to furnish the Chamber are too precious for everyday use in the present office, and have been transferred to the India Office Library (now part of the British Library) at St Pancras. Original furnishings which still remain in the Chamber are the early nineteenth century mahogany chairs, newspaper stand and the Chairman’s Seat bearing the East India Company’s crest of a rampant lion within a medallion.

In 1867, before the new India Office was completed, a magnificent reception was held in its courtyard (now known as Durbar Court) for the Sultan of Turkey, who was in Britain for a State Visit. The Council Chamber, decorated with silken draperies and regimental standards, was transformed into a Dining Room for the Sultan, the Prince of Wales and the most important guests, and it was reported that every item on the tables was made of gold.

When the India Office ceased to exist as a separate department of state in 1947, its building was taken over by the Foreign Office, which was in need of extra accommodation. The Council Chamber and its environs became the home of the greatly enlarged German Department, and was in 1948 the venue for the 1948 Three-Power Conference on Germany. In 1950 some preliminary discussions relating to the First Meeting of the NATO Deputies were held in the India Office Council Chamber, and the archives of the Secretariat were kept nearby.

The Council Chamber, together with Durbar Court, was one of the earliest Fine Areas to be restored in the course of the first phase (1984-7) of the FCO’s rolling programme of refurbishment.