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History: Formed 1831. Deed of Settlement, 1833. Incorporated by Act of Parliament, 1842 - 5 + 6 Victoria, cap. 36. Amalgamated with (Chartered) Gas Light and Coke Company, 1871.

William Matthew Hill and William Higgs both established building firms in the 1850s : Hill and Sons in Islington, and Higgs in Westminster (later moving to Vauxhall). Friendship between the two families led to amalgamation in 1874 as Hill, Higgs and Hill. William Higgs' yard in Vauxhall became the company headquarters and was renamed "Crown Works". On the retirement of Rowland Hill in 1877 the firm's name was simplified to Higgs and Hill. The firm enjoyed several prestigious early contracts, including the Tate Gallery on Millbank, Harvey Nicholls department store in Knightsbridge, and work on the new St Thomas' Hospital at Westminster Bridge.

In 1898 the business was incorporated as a limited liability company; getting a flying start with the winning of a new contract - the largest yet - for the Royal Naval Training College at Dartmouth.

The company moved its headquarters from Crown Works in 1967, to New Malden, Surrey. The workshops were moved to Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, along with the joinery works which operated under the name of Foster and Dicksee Limited. As the business continued to expand, other building firms were taken over, including Holliday and Greenwood.

May, May and Merriman, solicitors, still practice in Gray's Inn, London. According to their website (accessed Oct 2009) they were "founded in 1786 by Richard Wilson, May May and Merrimans has always practised within or close to the Inns of Court. For over 100 years the practice occupied 49 Lincoln's Inn Fields, until the move to its present premises in Gray's Inn in 1958. In the 19th Century the partners practised under their own names; Charles Gibbons May became a partner in 1884 and this family connection continued until 1965. The firm took its present name on amalgamation with Merrimans in 1968 and subsequently acquired the practices of Ravenscroft Woodward and Co and Caprons and Crosse, both of which also had long antecedents in the private client field. The firm continues to expand and has recently acquired the private client practice of Bird and Bird" (http://www.mmandm.co.uk/index.html).

The North Thames Gas Board (1949-1973) was one of 12 Area Boards formed when the gas industry was nationalised in 1949, following the passing of the 1948 Gas Bill. It supplied an area of 1,059 square miles stretching from Bracknell, Marlow and High Wycombe to the south east coast of Essex.

When formed it was made up of a merger of 12 statutory gas undertakings:

Ascot and District Gas and Electricity Company,

Chertsey Gas Consumers Company;

Commercial Gas Company;

(Chartered) Gas Light and Coke Company;

Hornsey Gas Company;

Lea Bridge District Gas Company;

North Middlesex Gas Company;

Romford Gas Company;

Slough Gas and Coke Company;

Southend Corporation (Shoeburyness);

Uxbridge Gas Consumers Company and

Windsor Royal Gas Light Company.

The North Thames Gas Board was dissolved in 1973 when it became a region of the British Gas Corporation.

The Great Central Gas Consumers Company was founded in 1849. Consumers Gas Companies were usually set up in consequence of dissatisfaction with the existing suppliers, in this case the City of London Gas Light and Coke Company and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company, which were both charging high amounts for their gas. According to the Act of Parliament which established the Company, it was obliged to sell gas at 4 shillings per 1000 cubic feet, and to take profits of 10 percent maximum. Any profit above 10 percent was to be put towards the reduction of prices. The Company had a gas works at Bow Common. In 1870 it was taken over by the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company.

In 1807 Frederick Albert Winsor, a Moravian, issued a prospectus for the grandiose New Patriotic Imperial and National Light and Heat Company. In the same year a group of influential backers, led by James Ludovic Grant, met at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand to try to launch some sort of public venture. At that time any company raising capital by selling shares was deemed a partnership: if it failed, all its members were held personally liable for losses. It was therefore decided to seek a charter by act of Parliament. An initial application in 1809 seeking to raise £1 million failed, largely through opposition by rivals such as Murdock and the younger James Watt. However, a more modest application for £200,000 was successful in 1810, though stringent conditions were attached. By 1810 these had been fulfilled and on 9 June the Gas Light and Coke Company - commonly known as the chartered company - was formally established, with Grant as its first governor. A Charter was granted by the Prince Regent in 1812.

The Company constructed the first operational public gas-works in Peter Street, Horseferry Road, Westminster, and began producing gas in September 1813. The Company absorbed 27 smaller companies and several undertakings during its period of operation, including the Aldgate Gas Light and Coke Company (1819), the Brentford Gas Company (1926), the City of London Gas Light and Coke Company (1870), the Equitable Gas Light Company (1871), the Great Central Gas Consumer's Company (1870), Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company (1876), the Independent Gas Light and Coke Company (1876), the London Gas Light Company (1883), Pinner Gas Company (1930), Richmond Gas Company (1925), Southend-on-Sea and District Gas Company (1932), Victoria Docks Gas Company (1871) and Western Gas Light Company (1873). In May 1949, after the passing of the Gas Bill 1948, the Company handed over its assets to the North Thames Gas Board.

The Peckham Building Investment Company worked to erect houses not worth more than £300 each on freehold land between Old Kent Rd and Queen's Rd, late Deptford Lane, ie Peckham Rd, [now Meeting House Lane and Culmore Road], Bath Road [now Asylum Road], Clifton Grove [now Clifton Crescent], Clifton Road [now Clifton Way], and Bath Grove.

The Ratcliff Gas Light and Coke Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1823-24 (George IV cap. 98), which was later consolidated and amended in 1855 (18-19 Victoria, cap. 12). ). The Company merged with the East London Gas Light Company (1831-1835). It was later amalgamated with the Commercial Gas Company, 1875 (38-39 Victoria, cap. 200.)

Scott of London, basket weavers, were founded in 1661 in the City of London. After the Great Fire of London in 1666 trades identified as a fire risk were ordered to move out of the City and so the company went to Soho, which was then a rural area. The products manufactured by the company varied over time but included bug traps (bed bugs are attracted to the bitter taste of willow), picnic baskets (the company claimed to have invented the modern picnic basket), cane furniture, cradles, dog baskets, and stage props such as effigies of Gog and Magog for the Lord Mayor's Parade or the frame of Falstaff's belly.

Seager Evans and Company was founded in 1805, principally as a maker of gin. They owned distilleries in Millbank and Deptford as well as many in Scotland for the production of whisky.

In 1956 they were bought by Schenley Industries of New York, in turn owned by Glen Alden Corporation. In 1969 Glen Alden Corporation was taken over by Rapid American Incorporated. The name Seager Evans was changed to Long John International, Ltd.

The collection also contains the records of a subsidiary company Holland and Co. Ltd, distillers, of Deptford Bridge, Deptford, Kent.

Sydenham Gas and Coke Company was formed in 1852 to serve Sydenham and its immediate neighbourhood. In 1866 it was merged into Crystal Palace District Gas Company.

The precise origin of the Truman family's involvement in brewing is unclear. Although 1666 is often cited as the start date, it is more likely to have been in 1679 when Joseph Truman Senior (died 1721) acquired the Black Eagle Street brewhouse from William Bucknall. The two sons of Joseph Truman Senior, Joseph Truman Junior (died 1733) and Benjamin Truman (died 1780) entered the business in 1716 and 1722 respectively. Joseph retired in 1730 and Benjamin developed the business so that in 1760 (the year he was knighted) Truman's brewery was the third biggest in London, brewing 60,000 barrels of beer per annum. After 1780, James Grant (died 1788), Sir Benjamin's assistant and executor, ran the business whilst the property passed to Sir Benjamin's grandsons, General Henry Read and William Truman Read.

In 1789 Sampson Hanbury acquired James Grant's share of the business and manged the brewery until 1835. He was joined in 1811 by his nephew Thomas Fowell Buxton. Additional partners joined in 1816: Thomas Marlborough Pryor and Robert Pryor, who had previously run Proctors brewhouse, Shoreditch. Production rose from 100,000 barrels per annum in 1800 to 400,000 barrels per annum in 1850, so becoming the largest brewery in London.

Truman Hanbury Buxton and Co. Ltd was registered in 1889 as a limited liability company. The company was acquired by Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd in 1971 and changed its name to Trumans Ltd. In 1974 it merged with Watney Mann Ltd. Brewing at Burton ceased in 1971 but the Black Eagle Brewery at Brick Lane, Shoreditch, continued to operate until 1988. In 1991, Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd was taken over by Courage Ltd.

Trollope and Colls Ltd can trace their origins back to 1778. The company was formed from two distinct family businesses. The first business was that of Joseph Trollope who was set up as a wall paper hanger in St Marylebone moving to St George, Hanover Square and then in 1787 to Parliament Street, Westminster. He was a specialist in exotic wall paper, especially Chinese painted paper, with work undertaken at Lullingstone Castle, The Vyne (Hampshire) and Burghley House. He retired in 1800. George Trollope, younger son of Joseph took over the running of the family business along with his brother Joseph Amos Trollope. In 1830 he became paper hanger to King George IV, and in 1842 to Queen Victoria. The firm expanded into interior decoration. Later, in 1849, it expanded into estate agency, letting and controlling property for the Grosvenor Estates.

A separate branch of Cabinet-makers, bearing the family name, was opened at West Halkin Street, becoming known as "The Museum of Decorative Arts" (run by George Robinson). In 1851, the firm became formally known as George Trollope and Sons. George Trollope and Sons were notable for their speculative development of Mayfair, in Eccleston Square, Eaton Square and Warwick Square. Because of delays in a development at Hereford Gardens, Grosvenor Estates were highly critical of the Company and it therefore lost its exemptions to various Building Acts. Further setbacks were industrial disputes in 1859/1860 and were, in descending order, building, estate agency (at Hobart Place), and interior decoration (at West Halkin Street). The latter was involved in contracts to fit out the interiors of liners.

Colls and Sons of 3 High Street, Camberwell, was started in 1840 by Benjamin Colls a painter and decorator who had previously worked in Camberwell and had an opportunity to develop Jackson's Place, Camberwell (belonging to his father-in-law Thomas Jackson). In 1844 he branched out into plumbing and glazier work and in 1853 became a builder and contractor with new premises at 240-246 Camberwell Road. A branch opened in the City at Moorgate in 1858. Most of the business pursued was contract work on workmen's flats, schools and Anglican Churches in South London (e.g. St Phillip, Battersea and St Luke, Camberwell). Increasingly attention had turned towards the City where Benjamin Colls used his experience as a master builder when Chairman of the City Lands Committee. This development into office building was continued by his sons William and John Howard (e.g. Institute of Chartered Accountants 1889-1892). J. Howard Colls was responsible for drawing up the standard contract (1880) and the firm was involved in a famous case Colls V Home and Colonial (1900) over the issue of 'Ancient Lights'. A branch of the firm was founded in Dorking to secure work on houses of City living in Surrey.

In 1903 the new company of George Trollope and Sons and Colls and Sons Ltd was formed with George Howard Trollope and John Howard Colls as joint Chairmen. Both had been presidents of the Central Association of Master Builders. The merger did not include the Surveyors, Auctioneers and Estate Agency at Hobart Place. There was a new headquarters for the firm at 5 Coleman Street, City; the cabinet-making continued with a new contract from Harland and Wolff, Belfast for the Royal Mail Line; the branch in Dorking continued.

The firm came to specialise in civil engineering. A.B Howard Colls did pioneer work in reinforced concrete during the First World War, when many docks, viaducts and railway bridges were constructed. Their work extended to reinforced concrete pipes for drainage, then later to suburban housing, garden cities and work in the Far East. The Second World War left much of the City to be redeveloped and elsewhere new opportunities arose in the field of atomic energy. Trollope and Colls Ltd (as the firm had been known since 1918) joined forces with Holland, Hannen and Cubitt to form Nuclear Civil Constitution ( responsible for Trywsfynnd Power Station, North Wales).

In 1968, the firm was taken over by Trafalgar House Investments Ltd but retained a separate identity. Appropriately enough, the company was responsible for the new precincts at Guildhall, and the repairing of the roof of Guildhall following the Second World War.

Chronology of Companies 1778 Joseph Trollope, wall paper hanger 1800 Joseph Amos and George Trollope 1840 Benjamin Colls, painter and decorator 1851 George Trollope and Sons 1903 George Trollope and Sons and Colls and Sons Ltd 1918 Trollope and Colls Ltd 1969 Trollope and Colls Ltd, owned by Trafalgar House Investments Ltd.

Selected Major buildings George Trollope and Sons: Haymarket Theatre 1869; Claridges Hotel 1897; Baltic Exchange 1903

Colls and Sons: Institute of Chartered Accountants 1889-1892; St Philip, Battersea 1870; Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Co., Bank 1904

Trollope and Colls Ltd: Lloyds Bank, Head Office, Lombard Street, 1931; Shell Mex House, remodelling 1931; Trinity House, Tower Hill, 1950s; Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Fleet Street, various dates; Debenhams, Wigmore Street, 1905-1908; Northwick Park Hospital, 1970s; New Stock Exchange, City, 1972-1975; Trywsfynnd Power Station, 1962; Interior work for Queen Mary (Cunard Liner).

Western Gas Light Company

The Western Gas Light Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament 1845 and the deed of settlement is dated 1846. It was amalgamated with the (Chartered) Gas, Light and Coke Company, 1872.

Wandsworth County Court

The County Courts as they now exist have their origins in the County Courts Act 1846 with modifications etc under the County Courts Acts of 1888 and 1934. The area of jurisdiction of each court is set from time to time by the Lord Chancellor.

The original jurisdiction of the courts included claims of debt or for damages (except for libel, slander, seduction and breach of promise) not exceeding £400; claims for recovery of land (less than £100 rateable value); claims for the administration of estates, execution of trusts, foreclosure, redemption of mortgages; matters regarding the maintenance of infants, dissolution of partnerships, relief against fraud or mistake where the value of the estates or property etc was not more than £500; contentious business in probate and administration matters where the estate was less than £1000.

The courts have had varied and extensive jurisdictions under numerous Acts including questions between husband and wife under the Married Women's Property Act 1882 and compensation for injured workmen by employers under the Workmen's Compensation Acts 1897 and 1925.

More recent decisions and judgements of County Courts can be found at the Registrar for County Court Judgements, Cleveland Street, London W1.

Address of Wandsworth County Court: Garratt Lane, Wandsworth, SW18; later 76-78 Upper Richmond Road, SW15.

District of the Court: Kew, Richmond, Petersham, Barnes, East Sheen, Mortlake, Roehampton, Putney, Wandsworth, Southfields, Earlsfield, Battersea, Clapham, Tooting, Balham and parts of Streatham and Brixton. Please see Post Office Directories (available in the LMA History Library) for lists of County Courts existing at any one time together with an account of the area covered by each court.

Lambeth County Court

The County Courts as they now exist have their origins in the County Courts Act 1846 with modifications etc under the County Courts Acts of 1888 and 1934. The area of jurisdiction of each court is set from time to time by the Lord Chancellor.

The original jurisdiction of the courts included claims of debt or for damages (except for libel, slander, seduction and breach of promise) not exceeding £400; claims for recovery of land (less than £100 rateable value); claims for the administration of estates, execution of trusts, foreclosure, redemption of mortgages; matters regarding the maintenance of infants, dissolution of partnerships, relief against fraud or mistake where the value of the estates or property etc was not more than £500; contentious business in probate and administration matters where the estate was less than £1000.

The courts have had varied and extensive jurisdictions under numerous Acts including questions between husband and wife under the Married Women's Property Act 1882 and compensation for injured workmen by employers under the Workmen's Compensation Acts 1897 and 1925.

More recent decisions and judgements of County Courts can be found at the Registrar for County Court Judgements, Cleveland Street, London W1.

Address of Lambeth County Court: Cleaver Street, Kennington Road, SE11.

District of the Court: Lambeth, Sydenham, and parts of Lewisham and Deptford, Bermondsey, and New Cross. Please see Post Office Directories (available in the LMA History Library) for lists of County Courts existing at any one time together with an account of the area covered by each court.

Southwark County Court

The County Courts as they now exist have their origins in the County Courts Act 1846 with modifications etc under the County Courts Acts of 1888 and 1934. The area of jurisdiction of each court is set from time to time by the Lord Chancellor.

The original jurisdiction of the courts included claims of debt or for damages (except for libel, slander, seduction and breach of promise) not exceeding £400; claims for recovery of land (less than £100 rateable value); claims for the administration of estates, execution of trusts, foreclosure, redemption of mortgages; matters regarding the maintenance of infants, dissolution of partnerships, relief against fraud or mistake where the value of the estates or property etc was not more than £500; contentious business in probate and administration matters where the estate was less than £1000.

The courts have had varied and extensive jurisdictions under numerous Acts including questions between husband and wife under the Married Women's Property Act 1882 and compensation for injured workmen by employers under the Workmen's Compensation Acts 1897 and 1925.

More recent decisions and judgements of County Courts can be found at the Registrar for County Court Judgements, Cleveland Street, London W1.

Address of Southwark County Court: Swan Street, Trinity Street, Borough, SE1.

District of Court: Southwark, parts of Lambeth, New Cross and Deptford. Please see Post Office Directories (available in the LMA History Library) for lists of County Courts existing at any one time together with an account of the area covered by each court.

Candlewick Ward Club

Candlewick Ward Club was founded in the early 18th century or before. It was called The Candlewick Club until 1739 when it was renamed Candlewick Ward Club. The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council. The Candlewick ward is situated near Monument and London Bridge, bounded to the north by Lombard Street, the east by Gracechurch Street, the south by Arthur Street and the west by Abchurch Lane. The Ward Club is a social club for those who live and work within the ward. It organises events such as talks, lectures, visits and outings, luncheons, dinners and church services. A newsletter is also produced.

The National Society was founded in 1889 as the Printers' Labourers' Union, "to protect the interests and wages of printers' labourers ... and to afford them a means of mutual support". In 1899 it was renamed the Operative Printers' Assistants Society, and in 1904 it became the National Society of Operative Printers' Assistants.

In recognition of the skilled managers as well as assistants among its membership, its title was altered again in 1912 to the National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (NatSOPA). In 1965 the union merged with the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers to form the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT).

The union was organised on a branch (chapel) basis, each chapel being presided over by its "father".

The Society of Royal Cumberland Youths is a bell-ringing society, though little is known for certain of its history. It was established in 1747, and is said to have taken its name from the Duke of Cumberland, in honour of his bloody suppression of the Jacobite rising of 1745. It appears to have been based initially in the City of London, and always in the London area, though it rang peals throughout London and the home counties and especially in the church of St Leonard Shoreditch. The Society appears to have drawn its members from the ranks of the aristocracy and well-to-do professional classes. This much is apparent from the "Name books" or registers of members. Surviving records include the "Peal books" or records of peals rung, minute books and rules.

According to tradition, the Union Society of London was founded in 1835 by members of the Oxford and Cambridge Unions. Its stated object was the promotion of debate and its laws were analogous to those of the two University Unions. Debates were conducted in accordance with House of Commons principles. The Society originally met at the members' private houses in rotation. However, by 1844 it was meeting in Lyon's Inn, Wych Street. It subsequently held meetings at the Alpine Club, St. Martin's Place, 1865-8; Dick's Coffee House, 7 Fleet Street, 1869; the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 1 Adam Street, 1870-86; and the Century Club, 6 Pall Mall Place, 1886-7. It was amalgamated with the Mansfield Debating Society in 1886. In February 1887, it was removed to the Inner Temple Lecture Hall where it remained until the beginning of the First World War, when attendances sank so low that meetings were held in members' chambers. From 1916 to its demise, ca. 1958, the Society met in the Middle Temple common room. Its membership comprised mainly members and students of the legal profession in addition to members of the Oxford and Cambridge Unions. Distinguished visitors were also invited to attend debates and the Society's annual dinner.

The Club was founded in 1877 as the General and Central Ward Club to discuss public affairs, especially relating to imperial, civic and guild matters. The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council.

Barbican Library Users (BLU), originally known as the Friends of Barbican Library, was formed by Barbican resident Hazel Brothers in response to the proposal to use the area of the Barbican Centre occupied by Barbican Library for conferences and banqueting and to move the library to another site. The campaign to keep Barbican Library within the Barbican Centre drew much support from Barbican residents and non-residents. At their meeting on on 28 July 1999 the Barbican Centre Committee agreed on commercial grounds that no further action would be taken, but the campaign group continued as Barbican Library Users with the aims of representing the interests of the library's users and to safeguard and promote its facilities and activities. At the time of deposit of these papers (2007), BLU is being re-shaped into a new Friends group.

Bassishaw Friendly Association was founded in 1840. In 1903 its name was changed to Bassishaw Ward Club.

The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council. The Bassishaw ward is bounded north by Cripplegate Ward Without, east by Coleman Street Ward, west by Cripplegate Ward Within and south by Cheap Ward. The ward contained one City parish church: St Michael Bassishaw.

Bishopsgate Ward Club

Bishopsgate Ward Club was instituted in 1790. The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council. The Bishopsgate ward is divided into two portions Within and Without of the City wall, the gate through which gives the ward its name. Bishopsgate Ward Within contained three City parish churches: St Helen Bishopsgate, St Ethelburga, and St Botolph Bishopsgate, while the whole of Bishopsgate Without Ward is co-extensive with St Botolph Bishopsgate.

British Factory , Leghorn

A 'factory' in this context is an establishment for traders carrying on business in a foreign country or a merchant company's trading station. Leghorn or Livorno is a port city in Tuscany which was important for trade with the Levant and the population included many foreign merchants. There was a thriving and wealthy British community there which used the British Factory chapel and chaplain for Protestant services. The Factory closed in 1825 and the community dwindled.

The British Horological Institute was founded in 1858 in reaction to the large number of foreign clocks and watches entering Britain, and to improve standards of British clock-making.

The Association was founded in 1849 "for the purpose of bringing before the legislature and the Poor Law Board the unfair, unequal and oppressive operation" of the poor rates in the City of London Union.

Described as "an association for the ratepayers of St Giles Cripplegate, for the purpose of ... interchange of ideas upon the various subjects which arise affecting the interests of the ratepayers", this Association discussed the municipal and administrative matters relative to Cripplegate ward without and St Giles Cripplegate parish (especially vestry reform).

The original Eastern Society of Master Pawnbrokers was established in 1813 at the Laurel Tree, Brick Lane, Spitalfields, in order to support its members against litigious prosecution. In 1822 the original society dissolved itself and was reformed as a friendly association, with revised rules and regulations. Its subsequent history is unknown.

Eclectic Book Society

The Eclectic Book Society met at members' private residences, both within and without the City of London. The society acted as a private circulating library with members suggesting (often religious) titles for purchase.

The council consisted of representatives of the London and Home Counties Fish Friers' Association; the London Fish and Poultry Retailers' Association; the London Fish Merchants' Association (Billingsgate), (to 1946, the London Fish Trade Association); and from 1969, the Transport and General Workers' Union. It was formed in 1945 for the purpose of co-operating on matters of mutual interest.

A notary is officially authorized to perform certain legal formalities, including drawing up or certifying contracts and deeds, administering oaths, and protesting dishonoured bills of exchange.

The committee consisted of representatives of the National Federation of Inland Wholesale Fish Merchants; the Liverpool Wholesale Fish, Game, and Poultry Merchants' Association; and the Birmingham Fish and Poultry Merchants' Association. It was formed in 1950 to provide a means of communication between the wholesale trade and the White Fish Authority.

The first recorded meeting of the Liverpool Independent Legal Victoria Burial Society took place on 3 March 1843. From as early as 1845, the Society did not confine its activities to the city of Liverpool, and in 1845 collectors were established in Runcorn, Chester, Warrington, Ormskirk and Northwich. By 1863, its operations had extended to Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and in England as far north as Newcastle and as far west as Plymouth, with outposts in London.

Under the National Insurance Act of 1911 a system of compulsory health insurance for the working-class was established, to be administered by "approved societies". In 1912 the Liverpool Victoria Approved Society was constituted. By the end of that year it had over 350,000 members and later became one of the largest and most successful of the Approved Societies.

The Association was formed in 1872 and its members met weekly in the City, most often at 8 Queen Street, Cheapside. It became the London district branch of the National Phonographic Society in 1894. In 1898 this body became the Incorporated Phonographic Society, a society still in existence.

The Rectifiers' Club was formed in the late 1780s. It met at the City of London Tavern to discuss matters relating to the trade of distilling (gin, cordials and other British spirits excluding whisky). The members of the Club included many prominent London distillers.

The Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorships was formed in 1762. It was the first society to use a scientific form of life assurance which enabled the Equitable to accept a broad range of risks. By 1797 there were over 5,000 assurances in force.

The name 'Equitable Life Assurance Society' appeared in brochures by 1857, but the Society only became incorporated with this name in 1893.

The Society acquired the Reversionary Interest Society in 1919; University Life Assurance Society in 1919; and Equitable Reversionary Interest Society in 1920.

The Society was based at Nicholas Lane (1762-74); New Bridge Street (1774-1870); Mansion House Street (1870-1924); Coleman Street (1924-c1992); and Basinghall Street (c1993- ). The Society was closed to new business in 2000.

The Society of East India Commanders acted as a friendly society and also represented the interest of the commanders of East India Company ships to the East India Company. The Society was probably formed in 1773 when it met at the Queen Arms Tavern in St Paul's Churchyard. In 1775 it moved to the Antwerp Tavern and then met, from 1780, at the Jerusalem Coffee House.

The Society was formed in 1873 to 'promote sympathy and mutual help' among younger clergy and give the opportunity 'of freely discussing matters of practical interest in parish work'. Meetings were held at various churches, vestry halls, colleges, St Paul's Chapter House and, from 1889, at Sion College.

Vintry Ward Club was established in 1877 and in 1957 became Vintry and Dowgate Wards Club.

The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council.

Vintry Ward lies to the west of the Walbrook on the bank of the River Thames and extends north to Cordwainer Ward and is bounded on the east by Dowgate Ward and on the west by Queenhithe Ward. The ward contained four City parish churches: St Martin Vintry, St James Garlickhithe, St Michael Paternoster Royal and St Thomas the Apostle.

Dowgate Ward lies between Walbrook Ward north, Candlewick and Bridge Within wards east and Vintry Ward west, and extends south to the River Thames. The ward contained two City parish churches: All Hallows the Great and All Hallows the Less.