Special branch

The Metropolitan Police Special Irish Branch was formed in March 1883 to counter Irish 'Fenian' terrorism on mainland Britain.

Over the years, Special Branch took on responsibility for combating a wide range of extremist and terrorist activity and the term 'Irish' was dropped from its title. Special Branch has responsibility for gathering, collating and exploiting intelligence on extremist political and terrorist activity, disseminating intelligence for operational use and assisting other Government agencies to counter threats to the security of the United Kingdom.

The government has recently announced that Special Branch is to merge with Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch to form the counter-terrorism directorate.

Browse the files relating to the Special Branch records in our catalogue for

Go to the Special Branch website to read more