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London Metropolitan Archives

CORN EXCHANGE COMPANY LIMITED


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/058

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: CORN EXCHANGE COMPANY LIMITED

Date(s): 1555-1981

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 133 production units.

Name of creator(s): Corn Exchange Co Ltd

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Corn Exchange was founded in the 1740s, and the first exchange building was erected c 1750 on the east side of Mark Lane. This building was enlarged in 1827 and roofed in 1850. In 1882 it was demolished and replaced by a far larger building, designed by the architect Edward I'Anson, with an Italianate facade. The entrance to this building was on Mark Lane, but the building extended through to Seething Lane, where there was a private subscription room for the members. Until 1872 the Exchange was managed by a Committee of Members. In that year it was incorporated by Act of Parliament. Various later Acts were also obtained. In 1974 the Exchange became a limited liability company.

In 1826 a group of discontented corn traders obtained an Act of Parliament entitling them to set up a rival corn exchange, the London Corn Exchange, and in 1828 a separate London Corn Exchange building was constructed immediately north of the Corn Exchange on the same side of Mark Lane. This building was often referred to as the "New Corn Exchange", and the Corn Exchange building as the "Old Corn Exchange". In 1929 the London Corn Exchange merged with the Corn Exchange under an Act of Parliament of 1926, and the London Corn Exchange's 1828 building was demolished in 1931. The Corn Exchange's 1882 building was destroyed by enemy action in 1941, and a new building was reopened in 1953 on two-thirds of the former combined site of the Corn Exchange and the London Corn Exchange. Much of the Exchange's revenue by this date came from commercial lettings rather than members' subscriptions or the hire of dealing stands on the Exchange, and the 1953 building incorporated an 8-storey commercial office block. The 1953 building was itself demolished and rebuilt in 1973.

In 1975, following the Corn Exchange Act of that year, the shares of the Corn Exchange were admitted for the first time to the Stock Exchange Official List. By the 1980s the number of traders on the Exchange had declined severely, and in 1987 the remaining members of the Exchange's trading floor moved from Mark Lane to the Baltic Exchange in St Mary Axe.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

The surviving records of the Corn Exchange Company include minutes, annual reports and accounts, financial material, correspondence, records of stockholders, records relating to the restaurant, and deeds, plans and photographs. The records are held off-site and require 24 hours notice for access.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

CLC/B/058-01: Corn Exchange; CLC/B/058-02: London Corn Exchange.

Conditions governing access:

Access by appointment only. Please contact staff.

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:

These records have reached the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in several different ways. Mss 00901-912, except for Ms 00901A, comprising records of the foundation of the Corn Exchange in the 1740s, were presented by G B Beeman in June 1901. Ms 00901A was presented in March 1952 by the British Records Association. The largest group of records, Mss 30524-60, were deposited by the Corn Exchange Company Ltd on 17 November 1994. This last deposit also included various records of the London Corn Exchange (Mss 30517-23) as well as some other miscellaneous material (Mss 30561-8). The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: November 2010 to January 2011.


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Business records | Documents | Information sources
Corn trade | Food trade | Trade (practice)
Financial institutions | Finance
Stock exchanges | Exchanges | Financial markets | Investment | Finance

Personal names

Corporate names
Corn Exchange Co Ltd

Places
City of London | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe