SANDEMAN SONS AND COMPANY

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 CLC/B/196
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: SANDEMAN SONS AND COMPANY
Date(s)	: 1790-1887
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 15 production units.
Name of creator(s)	: George Sandeman Sons and Co Ltd | wine shippers and cotton merchants

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The firm of George G Sandeman, Sons and Company Limited, wine shippers and cotton merchants, was established in London in 1790 by George Sandeman (1765-1841). From the beginning he specialised in wines from the Iberian Peninsula, notably port and sherry. At first Sandeman ran the business from Tom's Coffee House in Birchin Lane, later renting an office at 24 Old Jewry. In 1805 he took a lease of 20 St Swithin's Lane for use as offices and wine vaults. This was to remain the firm's headquarters until 1969 when it moved to 37 Albert Embankment. In 1984, the firm moved to 17 Dacre Street.

George Sandeman was early in partnership with his elder brother who ran the business in Scotland. This partnership had dissolved by 1798, and after 1800 George Sandeman took a succession of partners from outside the family. Between 1800 and 1856, the firm was variously styled as Sandeman Robinson and Company, George Sandeman and Company, George Sandeman Gooden and Company, George Sandeman Gooden and Forster Limited, and Sandeman Forster and Company. The business expanded to include insurance and the export of British linen and cotton goods to the West Indies, Central America and Mexico.

George Sandeman was succeeded on his death in 1841 by his nephew, George Glas Sandeman, from whom all subseqent heads of the company descended. The firm became a private limited company in 1902, under the style of George Sandeman Sons and Company Limited. It became a public company in 1952.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of George G Sandeman, Sons and Company Limited, wine shippers and cotton merchants, comprising financial records 1799-1812 and 1838-9; an order book 1792-1809; merchant bankers' ledger 1817-1819; letter books 1795-1797 and 1885-1887; shipment register 1869-72; trade circulars 1840-2; private account books of stocks and shares 1821-60; and a copy of a letter by George Sandeman dated 1790.

Access & 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:

Mss 8642-52 were deposited in the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library by the company in 1954, Ms 8648 having been found in the offices of Sandeman Bros and Co at Jerez de la Frontera in 1934. Ms 23959 was deposited by the company in 1990. The records were catalogued in 1954 and 1990 by members of Guildhall Library staff. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The records of Sandeman and Sons (Edinburgh) are now held by The National Archives of Scotland. For a catalogue of their records, which include some manuscripts of Sandeman, Sons and Co of London, see Fo. Pam 6819 in the Printed Books Section of Guildhall Library.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

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:
January to May 2011.