Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The company originated circa 1812 as Lawson and Barker, a partnership between James Lawson the printer of The Times, and Charles Barker. The location of its first office is uncertain but from evidence in directories and a letter book (Ms 20011) it was established at 12 Birchin Lane by 1826. The partnership seems to have been dissolved circa 1834, since directory entries from 1835 appear under Barker, and letters in the letter book are signed in the name of Charles Barker only from December 1833. In 1856 the business moved to 8 Birchin Lane. In 1859 Charles Barker died and in 1860 the style of the firm was changed to Charles Barker and Sons, advertising agents. In 1913 it was incorporated as a private limited company, and moved to 2 White Lion Court, Cornhill. In 1921 it moved to 31 Budge Row, in 1957 to Gateway House, 1 Watling Street, in 1962 to 20 Cannon Street and in 1973 to 30 Farringdon Street.
The original partnership was described variously in directories as 'newsagents', 'newspaper agents' or 'correspondence and advertising agents'. It acted as the advertising agent for The Times and provided newsletters of parliamentary and financial affairs to provincial and foreign newspapers, based upon The Times news service, supplemented by a parliamentary reporting staff of its own.
Commercial and financial advertising rapidly expanded through the foreign loans announcements by merchant banks, the railway 'boom' of the 1830s and '40's, and the advertising of joint stock companies from the 1860s. The firm published the Joint Stock Companies Directory (a forerunner of the Stock Exchange Year Book) from 1867 to 1874. After the first world war the company began to accept customer advertising, notably for Rolls Royce, and in the 1950s to make advertising films. In 1962 a public relations department was formed which joined the financial advertising division in 1968 to form a separate subsidiary, Charles Barker City Limited.
In 1970 other specialised subsidiaries were formed:- Charles Barker Recruitment Limited, Charles Barker Advertising Limited (Consumer) and Charles Barker Films Limited. The company has expanded to provincial cities- Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Birmingham- and, since 1973, overseas to Australia, Canada, Germany etc.