UNION DISCOUNT COMPANY OF LONDON

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 CLC/B/219
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: UNION DISCOUNT COMPANY OF LONDON
Date(s)	: 1885-1988
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 56 production units.
Name of creator(s)	: Union Discount Company of London Ltd

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

In 1885 the General Credit and Discount Corporation of London Limited amalgamated with the United Discount Corporation Limited to form the Union Discount Company of London Limited. It soon became the largest London discount house in terms of turnover and deposits; a position it held until the 1980s. In 1891 it acquired the discount houses of Harwood Knight and Allen, and Green Tomkinson and Company. An office in Edinburgh was opened in 1975. The company became the Union Discount Company of London PLC in 1994.

The company was based at 38 Lombard Street (1885-90) and 39 Cornhill (1890-). In 1973-9 the company moved temporarily to 78-80 Cornhill while its main offices were undergoing renovation work.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Union Discount Company of London Limited, including photographs of offices and board members; notes on businesses and individuals with which the company had contact; agreement; and minutes of annual general meetings.

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:

These records form only a small part of the archives of the company which were surveyed by the Manuscripts Section in February/March 1996; a copy of the survey list may be seen on request.

Immediate source of acquisition:

These records were deposited in the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in 2004.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

For a history of the company see George and Pamela Cleaver, The Union Discount: A Centenary Album (London, 1985) held in the Guildhall Library Printed Books Section.

See also the entry for Union PLC in John Orbell and Alison Turton, British Banking. A Guide to Historical Records (Aldershot, 2001).

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.