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London Metropolitan Archives

ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/016

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Date(s): 1860-1995

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 424 production units.

Name of creator(s): Association of British Chambers of Commerce x British Chambers of Commerce
National Chamber of Trade

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Association was founded in 1860 as the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom and its name was changed to the Association of British Chambers of Commerce in 1919. The Association is now known as the British Chambers of Commerce. Early chambers of commerce had been established in Jersey, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow , Edinburgh and Belfast amongst others but there was no concerted attempt to work together until the presidents of the Yorkshire Chambers met at the Social Science Congress in Bradford in 1859 and decided they needed their own national forum. The Association had London offices in Queen Anne's Gate, City of Westminster (to be close to the Houses of Parliament) and at Cannon Street and Queen Street in the City of London.

The Association was concerned in the 19th century with a wide variety of subjects including bankruptcy and partnership law, patents and trade marks, copyright, reform of copyright law, shipping and railways and foreign tariffs. By 1900 the Association comprised 90 chambers and included more than 50 Members of Parliament among its honorary members. Much of its success in this period stemmed from its ability to influence Parliament. One cause for which it lobbied for over a century was adoption of the metric system. After the Second World War it argued for UK membership of a European trading area. In the postwar period the Association argued against the Labour Government's increased involvement with the economy and industry. The increasing interest of the state in industrial affairs led the Association to seek to influence Ministers directly and to liaise with government departments to amend proposed legislation, rather than by lobbying MPs.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, as follows:-

Ms 17363 - Articles of association;
Mss 17364-7 - Affiliated chambers, United Kingdom and overseas;
Mss 14476-7 - Executive council;
Mss 14478-9, 14485, 17394-5 - Standing, advisory and special committees;
Mss 17368-72 - General purposes committee;
Mss 17373-83 - Internal organisation, personnel and visitors;
Mss 17384-6 - Circulars and out-letter files;
Mss 17387 - Meeting with Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Finance and taxation division:-
Mss 14480 -1 - committee minutes;
Ms 17388 - circulars;
Mss 17389-93 - press releases and newsletters;
Mss 17394-475 - subject files, listed alphabetically;
Ms 17476 - printed booklets.

Home affairs division:-
Mss 14482-4 - committee minutes;
Ms 17477 - circulars;
Mss 14485 and Ms 17478-94 - education committee papers and education subject files;
Mss 14488 and Ms 17495-9 - post office services committee papers and postal subject files;
Mss 17500-1 - power committee papers and power and fuel subject file;
Mss 14485-6 and Ms 17502-37 - transport committee papers and transport subject files;
Mss 17538-50 - other subject files, listed alphabetically;
Ms 17551 - printed booklets.

Overseas division:-
Mss 14487 and 17552 - committee minutes and papers;
Ms 17553 - circulars;
Mss 17554-63 - subject files, listed alphabetically;
Mss 17564-83 - correspondence and papers relating to outside bodies and other trade organisations;
Ms 17584 - files labelled miscellaneous;
Mss 17585-8 - printed booklets;
Mss 17589-93 - Association of Secretaries of British Chambers of Commerce.
Mss 17593/A-C Statistics and report.

In addition to the committee minutes, the five series of circulars (Mss 17384, 17388, 17477, 17553 and 17592) will be found to supplement the subject files which form the bulk of the Association's archives.

Also papers of the National Chamber of Trade, including minutes, register of members, circulars, press cuttings and handbooks.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Records divided into two sub-fonds: CLC/B/016-1: Association of British Chambers of Commerce; CLC/B/016-2: National Chamber of Trade.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information may be subject to access restrictions.

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 records of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce were deposited in Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section in 1973-5 and were catalogued by Manuscripts Section staff in 1973 and 1978. Some of the records deposited in 1973 came via the London School of Economics. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

Earlier circulars, 1870-1914, are classed as printed books and are held in the Printed Books section of Guildhall Library.

Records post 1973 have not been deposited and are presumed to be held in the offices of the British Chambers of Commerce. Exeter University Library holds six boxes of papers submitted to and generated by the Legal Committee of the Association, 1973-88, which were deposited by a member of the law department at Exeter University.

Publication note:

A centenary history of the association, 1860-1960, was commissioned by the Association: A.R. Ilersic and P.F.B. Liddle, Parliament of Commerce, the story of the A.B.C.C. (London, 1960) which is held in the Printed Books Section of Guildhall Library.

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
Campaign groups | Groups
Chambers of commerce | Business associations | Professional associations | Associations | Organizations
Financial institutions | Finance
Financial markets | Investment | Finance
Financial records | Documents | Information sources
Interest groups | Groups
Trade associations | Associations | Organizations
Pressure groups x Interest groups
Trade (practice)

Personal names

Corporate names
Association of British Chambers of Commerce x British Chambers of Commerce
National Chamber of Trade

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