Papers of Wallace Brothers and Company Limited, East India Merchants, bankers and London agents, later known as Wallace Brothers and Company (Holdings) Limited. Most of the records emanate from the core business of the Wallace Brothers partnership and its successors; but some emanate from the business of associated or subsidiary companies which were based in London. The latter include the records of Wyer and Hawke, London agents of Bombay Company Limited, who operated from the London office of Wallace Brothers between 1912 and 1968.
The archive does not hold the papers of Wallace Brothers' associated or subsidiary companies based overseas. No lists of the papers of these companies are held, and their whereabouts and accessibility are unknown. However the archives transferred to Guildhall from Wallace Brothers' London office include a considerable amount of information about the activities of many of these companies, including numerous copy and original documents sent to London by the companies concerned.
Besides papers created or received in the course of business, the Wallace Brothers archives include some memoirs of partners, directors or members of staff, and notes of research into the history of Wallace Brothers and its associates and subsidiaries.
The business papers date from 1862 to 1989, and relate to all aspects of Wallace Brothers' operations, although few banking records are held, and only formal business records survive from the period ca. 1966-1989.
Access is subject to a 45-year closure period (70 years in the case of personnel records). Annual reports and other published documents are not subject to closure.
The associated and subsidiary companies whose activities are known to be reflected in the Wallace Brothers archives are (provisionally) listed below, in the order in which the records will be arranged in the catalogue:
- Arrancan Company Limited, Burma rice merchants;
- Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited;
- subsidiaries and associaties of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited: Amalgamated Saw Mills Limited, Anamallais Ropeway Company Limited, Bombay Burmah Plantations Limited, East India Rubber Corporation Limited;
- subsidiaries and associates of East India Rubber Corporation Limited (Bombay-Java Trading Company, Indo-Java Rubber Planting and Trading Company Limited), Joint Timber Company Limited, Thailand, North Borneo Timbers Limited;
- subsidiaries and associates of North Borneo Timbers Limited (Wallace Bay Limited), Rangoon Mining Company, Sumatra Petroleum Company, Thai Tapioca Limited;
- Bombay Company Limited;
- subsidiaries and associates of Bombay Company Limited: BCL Limited, BMD Agency Limited, Dymes and Company, cotton mill owners and oilseed processors, Madras, Karachi Company Limited (formerly the Karachi branch of Bombay Company Limited; established as a separate company in 1952), Lakhshmi Cotton Manufacturing Company, Sholapur, India, Wyer and Hawke, London agents of Bombay Company Limited;
- Chrestian and Company, mica producers, India;
- DP Investments Limited;
- subsidiaries and associates of DP Investments Limited: Development Participations Limited;
- Glazebrook, Steel and Company Limited, textile manufacturers, Manchester;
- Hermes Securities Limited;
- subsidiaries and associates of Hermes Securities Limited: Hermes Credit Corporation Limited;
- Kerosene Oil Company Limited;
- Leslie and Anderson Limited;
- Malaysian Company Limited;
- Tannadine Company Limited, Sumatra;
- Wallace and Adam Limited, agricultural equipment importers, Kenya;
- subsidiaries and associates of Wallace and Adam Limited: Kiu Estate Limited, Ol Pejeta Ranching Company Limited, Pyrita Limited;
- Wallace and Company, Bombay;
- Wallace Brothers Developments Limited;
- Wallace Brothers Finance Limited;
- Wallace Brothers Nominees Limited;
- Wallace Evans and Company Limited (known as Wallace Brothers Commodities Limited from 1967).