Records including minutes; policy registers; annual reports; financial records including papers relating to shares and shareholders; agreements; correspondence; deeds; and reports; of predecessors and subsidiaries of the Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance Company, as follows:

Guardian Assurance Company Limited;
Royal Exchange Assurance;
Albion Fire Insurance Company Limited;
Atlas Assurance Company Limited;
British Equitable Assurance Company Limited;
Caledonian Insurance Company;
Car and General Insurance Corporation Limited;
Car Services Limited;
Essex and Suffolk Insurance Company Limited;
Licenses and General Insurance Company Limited;
Liverpool and London Plate Glass Insurance Company;
Local Government Guarantee Society;
London and Manchester Plate Glass Insurance Company;
Manchester Assurance Company Limited;
Motor Union Insurance Company Limited;
National Provincial Insurance Company Limited;
Pilot Insurance Corporation Limited;
Reliance Marine Insurance Company;
State Assurance Company Limited;
United British Insurance Company Limited;
Westminster and General Insurance Company Limited;
Essex and Suffolk Accident Indemnity Society.

Records of the Guardian Fire and Life Assurance Company, later known as the Guardian Assurance Company Limited; comprising minute books, reports on potential business overseas, correspondence, shareholders' ledgers and financial accounts.

24 hours notice is required for access to Mss 16209-10 and 18093-111. Access to Ms 16209/1-34 is also subject to special conditions: please consult staff for information.

Records of Royal Exchange Assurance, comprising fire policy registers 1753-1870 (Mss 7252-5); inventories of works of art relating to policies 1822-1913 (Ms 10461); court and committee minutes 1825-1964 (Mss 16235-243, 16245-6, 16250); financial records including life journals and ledgers 1842-1943 (Ms 16251-4); accounts of affiliated companies 1908-1944 (Ms 31634); reports 1838-1957 (Ms 16246A-249); stock ledgers 1838-1927 (Ms 16233) and some staff records 1906-19 and 1927 (Ms 16244).

Mss 16232 and Ms 16234 have been returned to the depositor.

Please note that 24 hours notice is required for access to Mss 16232-54 and 31634.

Albion Fire Insurance Association Limited records comprise minutes of the board of directors and of annual general meetings. They are held off-site and require 24 hours notice for access.

British Equitable Assurance Company Limited records consist of Board of Directors and Finance Committee minute books. They are held off-site and therefore require 24 hours notice for access.

Caledonian Insurance Company records comprise minutes and agendas, as well as overseas report books. They are held off-site and therefore require 24 hours notice for access.

Car and General Insurance Corporation Limited records comprise minutes of the board of directors 1903-1973 (Ms 16189) and minutes of the committee of directors 1930-1961 (Ms 16190).

Essex and Suffolk Insurance Company Limited records comprise board minutes and agendas 1907-1909 (Mss 16193-4) and a register of applications for and allotment of shares 1907 (Ms 16192).

Licenses and General Insurance Company Limited records comprise Board minute books and accounts. 24 hours notice is required for access to these records.

Liverpool and London Plate Glass Insurance Company Board of Directors minutes.

Local Government Guarantee Society board of directors minutes.

London and Manchester Plate Glass Insurance Company Limited board of directors minutes and annual balance sheets.

Manchester Fire and Life Assurance Company (later known as Manchester Assurance Company Limited) records comprise deeds of settlement 1824 and 1846, and registers of proprietors and/or shareholders 1825-1854 (Mss 16217-221); minutes 1825-1905 (Mss 16222-5); overseas department accounts 1889-94 (Ms 16226) and register of losses 1901-3 (Ms 16227).

Motor Union Insurance Company Limited records comprise board minutes 1920-1936 (Ms 16228) and committee of directors minutes 1930-1941 (Ms 16229).

Board minute books of the National Provincial Insurance Company Limited.

Pilot Insurance Corporation Limited minutes of the board of directors.

Reliance Marine Insurance Company Limited records comprise board minute books. 24 hours notice is required for access to these records.

State Assurance Company Limited records comprise share records 1891-1955 (Mss 16255, 16257-8), minutes 1891-1944 (Ms 16259) and miscellaneous papers 1917-29 (Ms 16256).

Minutes of the United British Insurance Company Limited.

Minutes of the Westminster and General Insurance Company Limited.

Essex and Suffolk Accident Indemnity Society records comprise board minutes and agendas 1907-9 (Mss 16193-4) and a register of applications for and allotment of shares 1907 (Ms 16192).

Records of Guinness, Mahon and Company, mainly comprising correspondence between partners, but there are also memorandum and articles of association, 1956-1966 (Ms 38588); agreements and related papers, 1856-1893 (Ms 38589); board minutes and interim accounts, 1966-8 (Ms 38590); and papers relating to the Guinness family, 1924-69 (Ms 38612).

Henry Samuel Howard Guinness (1888-1975), usually referred to in the papers as "S.G.", was a director of Guinness and Mahon Limited, Dublin, and a senior partner in Guinness, Mahon and Company, London. It appears that he wrote many of the notes on the history of the firm and the Guinness family which can be found in this collection. Some of the bundles and files of papers may also have been compiled by him.

The surviving records of Hambros Bank Limited include:

1. Accounts;

   2. Correspondence: from 1836-c 1864 there are separate bundles or files for each correspondent or topic, from 1861-1892 there is also a general series of "private letters" in annual bundles;
   3. Loan papers: from 1880 an additional series of correspondence and related papers was kept, arranged in bundles by loan. The bundles were kept in "loan boxes" (if the loan was made) or "rejected addresses" (if the loan was not made);
   4. Agreements;
   5. General business papers;
   6. Administrative papers: internal organisation, title deeds etc;
   7. Family papers.

   There is however a considerable overlap between material in many of the categories mentioned above and a number of documents relate to personal and family as well as business matters. The records of the Hambro family (MS19216- 20B) include baptismal certificates, photographs, papers relating to probate and related items.

   Permission for access to records post-1975 should be sought from the depositor. Please ask a member of staff for further information.

Financial records of Harrisons and Crosfield Limited, including ledgers, statements of account, journals, bills books. The records relate to sales, imports and exports, purchases, profits and losses, debts, investments and taxes. Tea, coffee, silk and rubber are particularly mentioned.

Access to records less than 30 years old (or records less than 70 years old which relate to staff) should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

Records of Harrisons and Crosfield Limited relating to insurance; including Insurance Department reports, financial accounts, papers and policy journals; and papers relating to insurance claims, particularly for cargoes diverted or requisitioned during the Second World War.

Records of Harrisons and Crosfield Limited relating to shares, including annual reports; share prospectuses; circulars to shareholders; financial records; correspondence; and papers relating to the Company's Stock Exchange listing.

Access to records less than 30 years old (or records less than 70 years old which relate to staff) should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

Records of Chandler, Hargreaves, Whittall and Company Limited, insurance brokers, comprising general correspondence and papers relating to the purchase of the company by Harrisons and Crosfield Limited.

Records of G.T.S. Syndicate Limited, investment company, including articles of association; minute books; financial accounts; annual reports; circulars to shareholders and correspondence.

Access to records less than 30 years old (or records less than 70 years old which relate to staff) should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

Records of Harcros Investment Trust Limited, including articles of association; board minutes; annual reports; circulars to shareholders; correspondence; papers relating to the acquisition by Harrisons and Crosfield Limited and papers relating to estates owned by the Rubber Plantations Investment Trust.

Access to records less than 30 years old (or records less than 70 years old which relate to staff) should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

Records of Harrisons and Crosfield Securities Limited, including minutes and agendas; annual reports; general correspondence and list of investments.

Access to records less than 30 years old (or records less than 70 years old which relate to staff) should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

Records of New Crescent (Holdings) Limited, investment company, including board minutes, annual reports and accounts.

Records of Rubber Securities Limited, investment company, including articles of association, minutes of meetings, annual reports, circulars to shareholders, papers relating to the acquisition of the Company and statement of investment holdings.

Access to records less than 30 years old (or records less than 70 years old which relate to staff) should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

Records of T.R.S. Company Limited, investment company, comprising articles of association and annual report and accounts.

Records relating to T.R.S. Limited, investment company, including articles of association; minutes; papers presented at meetings; annual reports and accounts; and statements of investments.

Access to records less than 30 years old should be sought from Elementis plc (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff).

Records of Heseltine, Powell and Company, stockbrokers, including a register of clients, clients stock ledgers, correspondence, diaries and financial material. Some of the records relate to the mining industry, and to the funding and development of railroads in America. There are also papers regarding the loss of stock certificates on the S.S. Titanic.

Records of Assam and African Investments Limited, including annual reports and financial records.

Records of Argonauts Investments Limited, comprising correspondence regarding loans and a map of land plots in Tanzania.

Records of Assam and African Holdings Limited, including board minutes and agendas; annual report with accounts; ledger and out-letter books.

Records of the Borneo Company, as follows:
1.Deed of settlement; memorandum and articles of association: Ms 27174-7;

2. Board, AGM and committee minutes; annual reports and accounts: Ms 27178-90;
3. Secretary's papers: Ms 27191-8;
4. Accounts: Ms 27199-231;
5. Overseas operations records:-
   Agency and general agreements-Ms 27232-43;
   Java and Sumatra-Ms 27244-58;
   Malaya and Singapore-Ms 27259-76;
   Philippines-Ms 27277;
   Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei-Ms 27278-304;
   Siam-Ms 27305-29;
6. Investments, takeovers and subsidiary company papers:-
   Australia-Ms 27330-45;
   Canada -Ms 27346-50;
   Hong Kong-Ms 27351;
   Colombia-Ms 27352;
   Cuba-Ms 27353;
   India-Ms 27354-5;
   Java and Sumatra-Ms 27356-9;
   Malaya and Singapore-Ms 27360-400;
   Netherlands-Ms 27401-2;
   Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei-Ms 27403-19;
   Siam-Ms 27420;
   United Kingdom-Ms 27421-3;
7. Publicity and sales material: Ms 27424-6;
8. Staff records: Ms 27427-43;
9. Property records (London only): Ms 27430-6;
10. Centenary celebrations and notes for centenary history: Ms 27437-43;
11. Photographs: Ms 27444-66;
12. Branch records:-
    Sarawak: Kuching-Ms 27467-70;
    Siam: Bangkok -Ms 27471-4.

Records of Gray, Dawes and Company, general merchants and agents, including partnership deeds; articles of association; correspondence; memoranda; financial accounts; papers relating to investments; papers of the insurance department; papers of the inward freight department; papers regarding the British India Steam Navigation Company Limited; and secretarial papers.

Records of Gray, MacKenzie and Company Limited, general merchants and agents in the Persian Gulf, including partnership agreements; articles of association; correspondence; legal papers; financial accounts; annual reports; papers relating to property; historical notes; papers relating to Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company Limited, Bahrein Slipway Company Limited and Dilmun Navigation Company Limited.

Saint Mary Axe Securities Limited records comprise: memorandum and articles of association, 1918-33 (Ms 28102); annual returns, 1918-45 (Ms 28103); directors' and shareholders' minute books, 1935-59 (Ms 28104); and articles of association of Hain Steamship Company Limited, 1923 (Ms 28105).

Institute of London Underwriters records as follows: General Meetings minutes (Ms 31840); annual reports (Ms 31841); Committee minutes and agendas (Mss 31842-4); minutes of various lesser committes and sub-committees (Mss 31845-62); registers of members (Ms 31863); ledgers and cash books (Mss 31864-7); circulars (Mss 31868-9); clauses books (Ms 31870); out-letter books (Mss 31871-80); and miscellaneous papers (Mss 31881-97). The 1884 Memorandum and Articles of Association can be found in vol. 1 of the registers of members (Ms 31863).

A cut-off date of 1960 was applied, and volumes or series (other than Circulars) continuing after this date may only be consulted by readers who have written permission from the donor: ask a member of staff for more information.

Records of the Issuing Houses Association including executive committee minutes (Ms 29328), reports and accounts (Mss 29329-331), membership files (Mss 29332-3), copies of the Association's rules (Ms 29336) and a useful booklet about Issuing Houses and the Issuing Houses Association (Ms 29337).

Access to records less than 30 years old should be sought from the London Investment Banking Association (contact details may be obtained from a member of staff). The Association retains its more recent records. No other records are known to exist.

Records of J and A Scrimgeour, stockbrokers, including articles of partnership and ledgers.

Records of James Capel and Company, stockbrokers; and other stockbroking companies with which it has merged: Holland and Balfour, Nathan and Rosselli, Gordon L. Jacobs and Company, Clayton, Byng and Paget, and Cruikshank and Company. The records mainly comprise financial material such as client ledgers and share certificates, and other office papers such as agreements, registers, correspondence and reports.

They are all held off-site and therefore require 24 hours notice for access. Some records are subject to a 75 year closure period.

Records of Clayton, Byng and Paget, stockbrokers, including client ledgers, bank ledgers, and trustee ledger.

They are held off-site and therefore require 24 hours notice for access. Some records are subject to a 75 year closure period.

Private ledger of Cruikshank and Company, stockbrokers.

Records of Gordon L Jacobs and Company, stockbrokers, including partner and private client ledgers, share certificates and other financial material, correspondence, reports and agreements.

The records are held off-site and require 24 hours notice for access. Some records are subject to a 75 year closure period.

Records of Holland, Balfour and Hamilton, stockbrokers, comprising partnership agreements, ledgers and other financial material, correspondence and registers. The records are held off-site and therefore require 24 hours notice for access. Some records are subject to a 75 year closure period.