IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/012
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: ANTONY GIBBS AND SONS LIMITED
Date(s): 1683-1954
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 574 production units.
Name of creator(s): Antony Gibbs and Sons Ltd | merchants and foreign bankers
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The business of Antony Gibbs and Son was founded in London in 1808. In 1813 it became Antony Gibbs and Sons, and in 1948 Antony Gibbs and Sons Limited. It was converted into a public company in 1972 and in September 1973 its name was changed to Antony Gibbs Holdings Limited. The company is now owned by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
The firm was based at 13 Sherborne Lane, Lombard Street (from ca. 1809), 20 Great Winchester Street (1814-15), 28 Great Winchester Street (1815-26), 47 Lime Street (1826-50) and 15 Bishopsgate, later numbered 22 Bishopsgate (from 1850).
In 1881 Antony Gibbs and Sons absorbed two associated business houses, which had previously been separate firms: a company in Bristol originating in an eighteenth century partnership and trading from 1801 as Munckley, Gibbs and Richards, from 1802 as Gibbs, Richards and Gibbs, from 1808 as George Gibbs and Son, from 1818 as Gibbs, Son and Bright and from 1839 as Gibbs, Bright and Company; and a company in Liverpool founded in 1805 as Gibbs, Thompson and Company and from 1824 as Gibbs, Bright and Company, with two branch houses in Gloucester (1834-42) and Australia as Bright Brothers and Company (1853-81), with an office in Dunedin, New Zealand from 1864.
Under the management of Antony Gibbs and Sons from 1881 these houses were re-organised; the Bristol and Liverpool houses traded as Antony Gibbs, Sons and Company, and the Australian house as Gibbs, Bright and Company.
The company traded overseas under a variety of other names, as follows:
CADIZ, SPAIN: Antony Gibbs and Son, 1808; Antony Gibbs, Son and Branscombe, 1808-13; and Antony Gibbs Son and Co, 1814-27;
GIBRALTAR: Gibbs, Casson and Co, 1818-33;
PERU AND CHILE (LATER ALSO BOLIVIA AND BRAZIL): Gibbs, Crawley, Moens and Co, 1822-4; Gibbs, Crawley and Co, 1824-47; William Gibbs and Co, 1847-79; Gibbs and Co, 1880-1948; Gibbs and Cia S.A.C. from 1948 and Gibbs, Williamson Ltd, from 1933;
NEW YORK: Antony Gibbs and Co, 1913-20; and Antony Gibbs and Co Inc, from 1920.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of Antony Gibbs and Sons Limited, merchants and foreign bankers, and their branches and subsidiaries. Records include papers relating to the Gibbs family; correspondence, letters and letter books; ledgers and other financial records; papers and correspondence of branches in Peru, Chile, Australia, the West Indies, New York, Bristol and Liverpool; memoranda; trading agreements; minutes and reports; papers relating to the guano business and papers relating to the iodine industry.
Correspondence with foreign branches will be found in a number of different points in the catalogue. A keyword search of the online catalogue by the name of the branch and 'Gibbs' is the easiest access to branch correspondence.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Records arranged by MS number, assigned during cataloguing at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section.
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The Gibbs archive was deposited with the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in a series of deposits in 1963-5, 1976 and 1982. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: November 2010 to January 2011.