ACrown colony orroyal colony was acolony governed byEngland, and thenGreat Britain or theUnited Kingdom within theEnglish and laterBritish Empire. There was usually agovernor to represent the Crown, appointed by theBritish monarch on the advice of theUK Government, with or without the assistance of a local council. In some cases, this council was split into two: an executive council and alegislative council, and the executive council was similar to thePrivy Council that advises the monarch. Members of executive councils were appointed by the governors, and British citizens resident in Crown colonies either had no representation in local government, or limited representation in alower house. In several Crown colonies, this limited representation grew over time. As theHouse of Commons of theBritish Parliament has never included seats for any of the colonies, there was no direct representation in the sovereign government for British subjects or citizens residing in Crown colonies.

The administration of Crown colonies changed over time and in the 1800s some became, with a loosening of the power of royal governors,self-governing colonies, within which thesovereign state (the UK Government) delegated legislation for most local internal matters of governance to elected assemblies, with consent of the governor, overseen by theColonial Office and theBoard of Trade and Plantations. The Colonial Office gave way to theDominion Office for some of these territories in 1925. Elected lower houses had their beginnings in theHouse of Burgesses of theColony of Virginia in 1619 and theHouse of Assembly of theParliament of Bermuda in 1620. While initially limited in government even with an elected lower house, over the centuries in some Crown colonies, more independent authority was given.

Like most colonial establishments, the main focus was the extraction of local resources and raw materials. All remaining British colonies, whether Crown (such as theFalkland Islands) or self-governing (such asBermuda), were renamed "British Dependent Territories" from 1 January 1983 under theBritish Nationality Act 1981. Many British citizens in the colonies (with the exceptions of theFalkland Islanders and subsequently theGibraltarians) found that their "Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies"had changed overnight toBritish Dependent Territories Citizenship, a form of British citizenship that stripped them of some of their rights, including the right to reside and work in the United Kingdom.^{[clarification needed]} From 2002, the dependent territories have been known officially asBritish Overseas Territories.^[1]

Early English colonies were oftenproprietary colonies, usually established and administered bycompanies under charters granted by the monarch. The first "royal colony" was theColony of Virginia, after 1624, when the Crown of theKingdom of England revoked theroyal charter it had granted to theVirginia Company and assumed control of the administration.^[2]

Executive crown governors are sometimes complemented by a locally appointed and/or electedlegislature with limited powers – that is, such territories lackresponsible government. For example, while theHouse of Assembly of Bermuda has existed continuously since its first session in 1620, Bermuda has only had responsible government since 1968. (Bermuda became a Crown colony in 1684, when the government revoked a royal charter given to theSomers Isles Company, successor to theVirginia Company, which had previously controlled administration, including the appointment of governors. Afterwards the British government appointed theGovernor of Bermuda.)^{[citation needed]}

Despite its later usage, the term "Crown colony" was used primarily, until the mid-19th century, to refer to colonies that had been acquired through wars, such asTrinidad and Tobago.^[3] After that time it was more broadly applied to everyBritish territory other thanBritish India,^[4] and self-governing colonies, such as theProvince of Canada,Newfoundland,British Columbia,New South Wales,Queensland,South Australia,Tasmania,Victoria,Western Australia, andNew Zealand.^[5]

By the mid-19th century, the monarch was appointing colonial governors only on the advice of theSecretary of State for the Colonies.^[6]

The term Crown colony continued to be used until 1981, when theBritish Nationality Act 1981 reclassified the remaining British colonies as "British Dependent Territories". By this time, the term "Crown colony" referred specifically to colonies lacking substantial autonomy, which were administered by an executive governor, appointed by the British Government – such asHong Kong, before its transfer in 1997 to thePeople's Republic of China.^{[citation needed]} In 2002, theBritish Overseas Territories Act 2002 further changed their name toBritish Overseas Territories.^{[citation needed]}

There werethree types of Crown colony as of 1918, with differing degrees of autonomy:

Crown colonieswith representative councils, such asBermuda,Jamaica,Ceylon andFiji, contained two legislative chambers, consisting of Crown-appointed and locally elected members.

Crown colonieswith nominated councils, such asBritish Honduras,Sierra Leone,British Windward Islands andHong Kong, were staffed entirely by Crown-appointed members, with some appointed representation from the local population. Hong Kong had a representative council following the introduction of election for theHong Kong Legislative Council in 1995.

Crown coloniesruled directly by a governor, such asBasutoland,^[7]Gibraltar,Saint Helena andSingapore, were fewest in number and had the least autonomy.

The "from" column lists the year the colony began to be administered by the Crown. These colonies may have existed under a different type of English colonial administration before then.

• British Empire
• British overseas territories
• British protectorate
• Colonial Office
• Crown dependency
• Direct rule over Northern Ireland
• Legislative council
• Proprietary colony
• Self-governing colony