HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE COMPANY

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 DD/0008
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE COMPANY
Date(s)	: 1802-1888
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 1.8 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Hammersmith Bridge Company

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Hammersmith Bridge Company was established by Act of Parliament in 1824 (before the introduction of the principle of the limited company). The Bridge, designed by William Tierney Clark (or Clarke), was completed in 1827. A second Act, amending some sections of the first, was obtained in 1828 Land was compulsorily acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Acts for making the approach roads, which included Hammersmith Bridge Road and what is now Castelnau in Barnes. A special clause in the first Act meant that whole of the Barn Elms Estate had to be purchased. Most of the surplus land in Barnes and Hammersmith was subsequently sold; but some properties were retained and let to tenants.

The Company's income came largely from tolls on users of the Bridge and the roads in Barnes. Tolls were not charged on users of Hammersmith Bridge Road. A floating steamboat pier was later built to increase profits, attached to the downstream side of the Surrey suspension pier. In 1880 the Bridge and pier were purchased by the Metropolitan Board of Works, under the terms of the Metropolis Toll Bridges Act. The Company's roads were transferred to the local authorities, its properties were sold , and it was wound up. The Bridge was at once freed from tolls and was replaced by the present bridge a few years later.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

The collection of documents listed here is incomplete. Important series of records, such as the signed minutes, the register of share transfers and all the ledgers are missing. Other series, such as the correspondence registers and out-letter books, are represented only by the last volumes. Most of the engineering records from the time of the construction of the Bridge were already missing, it seems, in 1869. (See DD/0008/1009-1010.) Tierney Clark had possibly kept them himself.

The Company's record keeping practices were fairly simple. Under the terms of its Acts its accounts, with the related vouchers, had to be produced every year at Michaelmas before the justices of the peace at the Surrey quarter-sessions for audit. The fact that comparatively few bills and receipts and account books survive may indicate that they were normally discarded after this had been done. In the Company's last years, and probably earlier, a simple system for keeping correspondence was used. Out-letters were copied in full into copy-books. Incoming items were kept in annual bundles and their date, and brief details of their contents, entered in a register. Many of the items received in 1879 and 1880 were never entered, although the notes of their contents endorsed on them indicate that it had originally been intended to do so.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

In making the present list items have been grouped, as far as possible, in series. However, the fragmentary nature of the collection has necessitated the creation of some artificial subject groupings. Bundles which appear to have been created during the Company's existence, and which may reflect its record keeping practices, have been kept intact. An attempt has been made to give as much detail in the lists of unregistered correspondence as the original register gives for registered items.

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 is held by 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 collection was received by the Hammersmith Central Library in about 1934. By 1954, when the first sorting was carried out, the identity of the donor was no longer known. It appears, however, that they represent some, or all, of the records retained by the last secretary of the Company, George Glasson, when it was wound up. This is indicated by the presence of items of his personal correspondence dating from 1888, and by the fact that only the less formal records (for instance rough minutes, but not signed ones) are present. No other records of the Company have been located in any of the likely places. In 1954 the material was absorbed into the Hammersmith Local History Collection. It was given the number SSR (Special Stock Register) 181.

Transferred from Hammersmith and Fulham Archives and Local History Centre in 2015.

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:
Added July 2015.