BRITISH MERCANTILE AGENCY

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 CLC/B/026-2
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: BRITISH MERCANTILE AGENCY
Date(s)	: 1858-1971
Level of description	: Collection View parent record
Extent	: 7 production units.
Name of creator(s)	: British Mercantile Agency | debt collection business

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Francis Nicholls White and Company acted as proprietor of a debt collection business known as the British Mercantile Agency which had been established in 1855. In 1924, when Francis Nicholls White and Company moved from 13/14 Old Jewry Chambers, the British Mercantile Agency moved to 90 Queen Street, London. In 1966 it relocated to Sidcup House, Station Road, Sidcup. Subsequently the agency was acquired by Woods Management Services. They sold it to Legal and Trade who dropped the name of British Mercantile Agency, since when it has ceased to exist.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the British Mercantile Agency, debt collection business, including prospectuses, financial accounts, enquiries, letters and a damping cloth used to take copies of letters and accounts.

Access is restricted to records less than 30 years old where specified and 24 hours notice is required for access to all the records.

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:

Access by appointment only. Please contact 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 archives of Booth White together with those of Nicholls and Leatherdale, Francis Nicholls White and Company, the British Mercantile Agency and its trade protection associations, and Parkin S Booth and Company were deposited in the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library on 12 November 1992 by Booth White through P. Granville White via the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

For a brief history of Booth White and its constituent bodies see P. Granville White, Booth White & Co (1983) (available in the collection, see CLC/B/026/MS28898).

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:
November 2010 to January 2011.