IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/060
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: CORPORATION OF FOREIGN BONDHOLDERS
Date(s): 1824-1997
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 1100 production units.
Name of creator(s): Corporation of Foreign Bondholders
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
In 1868 the Association of Foreign Bondholders was formed as a profit-making body. It was financed to a total of £60,000 by subscribers who were given certificates bearing interest at 5% In 1873 the "Corporation of Foreign Bondholders" was incorporated under licence from the Board of Trade as an association without profits. The 5% certificates were replaced by certificates of permanent membership with the right to elect members to the Council of the Corporation. Many certificates eventually passed into the hands of non-bondholders, some of whom wanted a return to profit-making status. The act of Parliament of 1898 provided for the redemption of the certificates and vested the right to nominate members to the Council in public bodies. The Corporation was entrusted by Parliament with the duty, amongst others, of watching over and protecting the rights and interests of holders of foreign government bonds and of making, for this purpose, representations to foreign governments. The Council of the Corporation consisted of 21 ordinary members, six of whom were appointed by the British Bankers' Association, six by the London Chamber of Commerce, and nine co-opted by the Council as a whole. The Corporation worked in close co-operation with independent bodies which dealt with particular countries or loans, such as the League Loans Committee (an international body), the Chinese Bondholders' Committee and the Committee of British Long-Term and Medium-Term Creditors of Germany. The Corporation was based at Palmerston Buildings, 34 Old Broad Street (1870-1872), 10/17 Moorgate (1873-1969), 68 Queen Street (1970-1975), 9-12 Cheapside (1976-1982) and 35 High Street, Bromley in Kent (1982-8). The Corporation went into liquidation in 1988.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Archives of the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders, consisting mainly of a series of correspondence files. Each series has a number and each item within the file has a running number. Within the files, cross references have sometimes been made to particular items in a different series, which can be identified by the unique number. The numbering system reveals that many of the earlier files from the series have been lost. The whereabouts of these earlier files are not known.
The main series of correspondence for each subject is referred to as "official correspondence". Often this main correspondence series was later divided into separate files, such as files for correspondence with bondholders or relating to statistics. The correspondence files can also contain copies of agreements, press releases and other related items.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish.
System of arrangement:
The archives of the Corporation are arranged as follows:
Corporate records including minutes: Mss 15748-51, 34586-91;
Share records: Mss 34592-5;
Internal administration records: Mss 15752-4, 34596-608;
Financial records: Mss 15755-9, 34609-12;
Countries:
General: Mss 34613-29;
Argentina: Mss 15783-4, 34630-3;
Austria and Hungary: Mss 15768, 34634-45, 34673, 34724;
Belgium: Ms 34647;
Bolivia: Mss 34648-9, 34785;
Brazil: Mss 34650-4;
Bulgaria: Mss 34655-60;
Chile: Mss 34661-2, 34785;
China: Ms 34663;
Colombia: Mss 15772-5, 15814, 34664-5, 34756;
Costa Rica: Mss 15776-81, 15814, 34667-70;
Cuba: Ms 34671;
Czechoslovakia: Mss 34636, 34672;
Denmark: Ms 34674;
Ecuador: Mss 15782, 15789, 34675-82;
Egypt: Ms 34683;
Estonia: Mss 34646, 34685;
Finland: Ms 34686;
France: Ms 34687;
Germany: Mss 15814, 34628, 34673, 34688-711;
Greece: Mss 15814, 34712-14;
Guatemala: Mss 34715-19;
Honduras: Mss 34720-3;
Ireland: Ms 34725;
Italy: Ms 34673;
Japan: Mss 34727-8;
Liberia: Mss 15791, 34729-31;
Mexico: Mss 15795, 34732-9;
Netherlands: Ms 34740;
Nicaragua: Mss 34741-9;
Norway: Ms 34750;
Panama: Ms 34751;
Paraguay: Mss 34752-6;
Peru: Mss 15796-7, 34757-8, 34785;
Poland: Mss 34645, 34759-60;
Portugal: Ms 34761;
Rhodesia / Zimbabwe: Mss 34666, 347624-4;
Roumania: Mss 15799-800, 34645, 34765-71;
Russia: Mss 15798, 34772-6;
Salvador: Mss 34777-9;
Santo Domingo: Mss 15801-3, 34780-3;
Siam / Thailand: Ms 34784;
Spain: Mss 34786-7;
Sweden: Ms 34788;
Turkey: Mss 34789-801;
Uruguay: Mss 34802-4;
USA: Mss 15760-7, 15769-71, 15786-8, 15790, 15792-4, 15804-5, 15807-10, 15812-14, 34628, 34805-18;
Venezuela: Mss 15806, 15814, 34756, 34819-21;
Yugoslavia: Mss 15811, 34771, 34823;
Staff records: Ms 34824;
Property records: Ms 34825;
Other: Mss 34826-30.
Conditions governing access:
A former 30 year closure rule was removed in March 2018. Some series relating to staff and members are subject to data protection legislation and therefore not 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
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
The internal administration files were found to be full of ephemeral papers and have therefore been weeded by Guildhall Library staff.
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The first consignment of records was deposited in the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in April 1976. The deposit was later made a gift. Subsequent donations of records were made in 1989 and 1998. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
Newspaper cuttings files (on microfilm), reports of the Council and collections of press cuttings produced by the Corporation are held by the Printed Books Section of Guildhall Library.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: November 2010 to January 2011.