BEVINGTONS AND SONS LIMITED {LEATHER MANUFACTURERS}

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 ACC/1616
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: BEVINGTONS AND SONS LIMITED {LEATHER MANUFACTURERS}
Date(s)	: 1690-2001
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 3.4 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Bevingtons and Sons Limited | leather merchants and manufacturers

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Bevingtons and Sons Limited, leather merchants and manufacturers were based at Neckinger Mills, Bermondsey, Southwark. The Bevington family were Quakers originating from Warwickshire and neighbouring Gloucestershire and had been associated with tanning since at least the mid-seventeenth century. For most of its history, the leather industry was in the hands of numerous family firms, of which Bevington and Sons Limited is recognised as a significant example. By 1795 operations had been established under Samuel Bevington Senior at the former site of Neckinger Paper Mills. At this time his son Samuel Bourne Bevington was based in Yeovil, Somerset, another area associated with the leather industry.

From 1802, following the death of Samuel Bevington Senior, his sons Samuel Bourne, Henry, Richard and Timothy Bevington continued as partners in the family business. At the Neckinger Mills factory, Bevington and Sons produced and dealt in a wide range of leathers and leather goods, such as gloves. Products were made from foreign and domestic skins including kid, lamb, sheepskin and fine seal-skins. Light leathers, such as Morocco, were produced for making shoes and fancy goods. The company also had premises in Saint Thomas' Street, Bermondsey and in Cannon Street, City of London. The family had a home at 34 Gracechurch Street, City of London. Later business premises included Hawley Mills, Dartford, Kent. The now dissolved public limited company of Bevington and Sons (Neckinger) Limited was incorporated on 6/11/1931.

Members of the Bevington Family have been admitted to the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers. James Geoffrey Bevington, partner from 1927, became the last remaining member of the Bevington Family in the firm. The company moved to Leicester in 1980. As of 2012, Bevington Specialist Leathers exists as a division of Milton Leicester Ltd, North Street, Wigston, Leicester.

For further details see 'Bevingtons & Sons Ltd, 1795-1995' by Geoffrey Bevington, published by Bevington and Sons, 1991. Held in City of London Library Collection (Closed Access Pam 22433). An edition is also available in this collection (ACC/1616/G/01/004).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Bevington and Sons, 1690-2001, including: partnership agreements, 1837-1946, minutes, 1859-1930, and partnership negotiations; financial records 1803-1949; records relating to types of stock, products and technical processes and innovations, 1879-1946; staff attendance books and photograph album, 1860-1877; records relating to property, 1792-1967; records relating to stock and finance, 1862-1946. Also family correspondence 1690-1837, and publications and articles on the history of the firm. The family correspondence offers insights into business practice, family relationships and domestic concerns, often in a single letter. Correspondents include women in the family, as wives and daughters of the company partners. Accounts for female family members are also represented.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The catalogue is arranged in 7 sections:-
ACC/1616/A: CORPORATE
ACC/1616/B: FINANCE
ACC/1616/C: PRODUCTION
ACC/1616/D: STAFF
ACC/1616/E: PREMISES
ACC/1616/F: FAMILY
ACC/1616/G: HISTORY

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright 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:

Received in 1981, with additional deposits in 2010 and 2011.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

See history Bevingtons & Sons Ltd, 1795-1995 by James Geoffrey Bevington (copy available at Guildhall Library, reference Pam 22433).

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:
July to October 2009, updated April 2013.