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London Metropolitan Archives

HARRISONS, KING AND IRWIN LIMITED


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/112-083

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: HARRISONS, KING AND IRWIN LIMITED

Date(s): 1909-1964

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 53 production units comprising 1 volume, 28 folders and 24 envelopes.

Name of creator(s): Harrisons, King and Irwin Ltd | traders in silk, tea and cotton

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Harrisons, King and Irwin Limited was registered in 1918 in Hong Kong to take over the business of Westphal, King and Ramsay (previously known as King, Son and Ramsay, 1904-1908, and as W W King and Son, 1892-1904), and of a firm taken over by W W King from 1878, which had traded as Shaw, Ripley and Company, in Shanghai, Hankow and Foochow. Harrisons, King and Irwin was a subsidiary company of Harrisons and Crosfield Limited (CLC/B/112). It exported tea, silk and other produce, imported cotton piece goods and acted as shipping and insurance agents.

In 1946 Harrisons, King and Irwin Limited was re-registered in Hong Kong. Its business in Shanghai, Hankow and Foochow was closed in 1951. The tea business was taken over by Harrisons and Crosfield (Hong Kong) Limited (CLC/B/112-070) in 1963. In 1963/4 Harrisons, King and Irwin Limited went into voluntary liquidation.

For historical notes on the Company see CLC/B/112/MS37392. See also the records of Harrisons and Crosfield (Hong Kong) Limited (CLC/B/112/MS37581-6) and Tait and Company (CLC/B/112/MS38195-204).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Harrisons, King and Irwin Limited, traders in silk, tea and cotton, including board minutes; correspondence; memoranda; financial accounts; and analysis of income and expenditure.

Access to records less than 70 years old which relate to staff should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

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:

Restricted access: please see 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:

The records of Harrisons and Crosfield and its subsidiary and secretarial companies were transferred to Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section between 1990 and 1998. The records were presented as a gift to the Library, except the minute books of some subsidiary companies which are held as a deposit. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

The Harrisons and Crosfield Ltd collection has been divided into 167 sub-fonds; CLC/B/112-001 to CLC/B/112-167. 001 to 016 are records relating to Harrisons and Crosfield (such as operational records, staff records, property records and so on), and 017 to 167 are the records of subsidiaries, plantations and associated organisations.

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
Cotton trade | Trade (practice)
Export trading companies | Trading companies | Companies | Enterprises
Importers | People by roles | People
Shipping agents | Commercial agents | Business people | People by occupation | People
Silk | Textiles
Silk industry | Textile industry | Manufacturing industry | Industry
Tea | Plant products | Agricultural products
Tea trade | Food trade | Trade (practice)

Personal names

Corporate names
Harrisons | King and Irwin Ltd | traders in silk | tea and cotton

Places
China | East Asia
Hong Kong | East Asia