EQUITABLE LABOUR EXCHANGE

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 O/433
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: EQUITABLE LABOUR EXCHANGE
Date(s)	: 1832
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.01 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Equitable Labour Exchange

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

In September 1832 socialist reformer Robert Owen, famed for the model community at the New Lanark mills, opened the Equitable Labour Exchange on Grays Inn Road. The Exchange used a new currency which was based on labour. Workers could exchange goods for notes according to the time they had taken to make the goods. The notes were measured in hours. The notes could then be exchanged for goods of equal 'time value'. Problems soon arose with the system, partly because the assessors over-valued goods, and because tradesmen would bring in low quality items, trade them for notes, trade these for high-quality goods, and sell these goods at a profit. The Exchange closed in 1834.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Note issued by the Equitable Labour Exchange to the value of Five Hours. The order, on the Exchange's elaborately engraved form, is to the Storekeeper to deliver to the bearer stores to the value of Five Hours. The date and number are inserted in manuscript. The signatures of the Governor, Director, and Secretary are also original autograph.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

One item.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to these records rests with the City of London.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Record deposited in March 1975.

Allied Materials

Related material:

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:
June to August 2010.