Showing 148 results

Records of William Graham Junior and Company, comprising inventory of premises in Lisbon, Portugal.

Records of William Graham and Company, comprising inventory of the Ponte Nova indigo printing works, Portugal.

Papers of the Wider Share Ownership Council, c1958-c2003, including correspondence, minutes, conference papers, reports and publications, including material relating to the merger with Proshare. Also the personal papers of George Copeman, mainly relating to employee share ownership and business management.

Records of John Whitwell, general merchant, comprising account books, 1815-22; memorandum books, 1819-20; letterbooks, 1817-1818 and 1821-1823; business diary, 1821-1822 and correspondence with business associates and family, 1819-1829.

Corporate records of Whitbread and Company Limited, brewers, including minutes of various corporate meetings (1889-1977), articles of association, partnership documents covering all major partnership agreements including the original agreement between Mr. Whitbread and Mr. Sewell dated 1761, documents relating to the establishment of the limited company including reports and property valuations, papers regarding Company shares, trusts, agreements and patents, contract books, directors' fees journals, registers of seals (1890-1979), royal warrants (1927-1973), policy documents and Company correspondence.

Also included are a substantial collection of managing director Sir Sydney Nevile's papers covering not only all aspects of his work at Whitbread but also his other commitments such as the Institute of Brewing and the Brewing Advisory Committee.

Accounts records of Whitbread and Company Limited, brewers, including Company accounts books (1815-1959) together with the annual copies of accounts and balance sheets issued to the director from 1890 through to 1952, statement of expenditure books from Britannia Street (1913-1922), cash books (1770-1959), deposit and depreciation ledgers (1916-1949 and 1938-1951 respectively), loan diaries and applications (1885-1919), securities ledgers and shares registers along with an unbroken series of rest books from 1799 through to 1918 with an additional series of rest books from 1941 to 1956.

Also included are accounts, cash and rent books from some of public houses owned by Whitbread and Company plus a variety of ledgers and journals regarding corporate finances both general and private.

Records enrolled or filed with the Clerk of the Westminster Quarter Sessions of the Peace, 1552-1885. The records classified as WR/A are concerned with the registration of foreigners; WR/B are records produced by Building Surveyors; WR/F are returns of those eligible to serve on juries; WR/L/P covers the licensing of printing presses; WR/LV relate to Licensed Victuallers; WR/ML are concerned with Militia and Lieutenancy; WR/O are Oaths of Office; WR/P are papers concerning Parliamentary Elections; WR/PLT Land Tax; WR/R contains the records produced from the control and recording of all non-conformists; WR/S contains records concerned with Societies; and WR/U records deposited with the court concerning Public Undertakings.

Note on the Quarter Sessions records: Although Westminster has fewer surviving records than Middlesex, the City's sessions would have produced similar records to those of the County, but they would have been smaller in quantity, and have included less administrative material. Also, as with all Quarter Sessions records, "seeing that the Custos Rotulorum was a private gentleman or nobleman and the Clerk of the Peace an attorney with a private practice it is likely that many county records were (if not lost or destroyed) handed down to their families or their professional successors" and many may still remain to be found in private hands (Emmison and Gray, County Records, 1987). Those records that have survived are often difficult to read or understand because of the handwriting, use of Latin (until 1733), or legal jargon and abbreviations; although standardised legal formats were used and printed pro formas introduced by the nineteenth century.

For the Middlesex and Westminster records there may also be confusion over the records' arrangement resulting from the attempts at classification by previous generations of archivists which have left many records split up into unnatural groupings. Originally they would not have been sorted into any cohesive arrangement. These were records that were "kept for administrative convenience rather than as sources for future generations" (G. Jones, Quarter Sessions records in the Leicestershire Record Office).

Because of this overlapping between many classes of record, any study of the Westminster records should include consultation of those for Middlesex. There was in any case a lot of co-operation between the two courts during the period covered by the records. Judicial (Gaol Delivery Sessions for example) and administrative functions were shared, as were court personnel (including justices). Westminster prisoners could elect to be tried at the Middlesex sessions, as these were held more frequently than their own.

The sessions records are a very useful source for family history, studying trends in law and order, and the life of the City and its inhabitants over a relatively long period of time. The capital was an area with high levels of crime, the natural place for riot and conspiracy, and attracted a wide variety of people from the whole country and abroad. The main record of proceedings at the sessions will be found in the sessions rolls (MJ/SR and the uncatalogued WJ/SR - index in WJ/CB); the (partially uncatalogued) sessions books (WJ/SB, MJ/SB); and the (partially uncatalogued) sessions papers (WJ/SP, MJ/SP). City administrative work is in the records of the County Day sessions (WJ/O), and for one particular type, in the records of the street surveyors (WJ/SS). Records of judicial procedure are in the records of court fines (WJ/E), writs to summon juries (WJ/W), and the trial process (WJ/Y); Lists of prisoners made at various times during the trial process are in WJ/CC and WJ/CP.

Records of the Clerk of the Peace for the Westminster Quarter Sessions of the Peace, 1665-1807. Records comprise one volume containing the following: copies of orders of Privy Council to the Justices of the Peace of Middlesex and Westminster as to measures to be taken to prevent the spread of plague - including an order to erect a pest house; copies of resultant orders of the Justices to high constables, Churchwardens, etc including orders for removal of lay stalls and repair of an offensive lane; lists of suspected papists and instructions from the Privy Council and others to the Justices of the Peace in connection with them; lists (indexed) of persons who have taken oaths of allegiance and supremacy and subscribed the declaration under Act of 1 Wm and Mary, or who have refused to do so; lists (indexed) of persons convicted of profane cursing and swearing according to the Act of 627 Wm III, 1665-1708.

Also one volume containing the following: register of the names of persons who have been granted Game Certificates at the Westminster Sessions; Commissioners' Certificates under the Property Act, filed at Westminster Sessions; register of certificates of Freemans Lodges, filed at Westminster Sessions; register of the names of persons who carry on the trade of Press and Type Makers, and who have given notice to Westminster Sessions; register of names of persons who carry on the trade of Printer, and who have given notice to Westminster Sessions; register of Surveyors Certificates files at Westminster Sessions; 1799-1807.

Also a booklet containing standing orders, with appendix, 1840.

Note on the Quarter Sessions records: Although Westminster has fewer surviving records than Middlesex, the City's sessions would have produced similar records to those of the County, but they would have been smaller in quantity, and have included less administrative material. Also, as with all Quarter Sessions records, "seeing that the Custos Rotulorum was a private gentleman or nobleman and the Clerk of the Peace an attorney with a private practice it is likely that many county records were (if not lost or destroyed) handed down to their families or their professional successors" and many may still remain to be found in private hands (Emmison and Gray, County Records, 1987). Those records that have survived are often difficult to read or understand because of the handwriting, use of Latin (until 1733), or legal jargon and abbreviations; although standardised legal formats were used and printed pro formas introduced by the nineteenth century.

For the Middlesex and Westminster records there may also be confusion over the records' arrangement resulting from the attempts at classification by previous generations of archivists which have left many records split up into unnatural groupings. Originally they would not have been sorted into any cohesive arrangement. These were records that were "kept for administrative convenience rather than as sources for future generations" (G. Jones, Quarter Sessions records in the Leicestershire Record Office).

Because of this overlapping between many classes of record, any study of the Westminster records should include consultation of those for Middlesex. There was in any case a lot of co-operation between the two courts during the period covered by the records. Judicial (Gaol Delivery Sessions for example) and administrative functions were shared, as were court personnel (including justices). Westminster prisoners could elect to be tried at the Middlesex sessions, as these were held more frequently than their own.

The sessions records are a very useful source for family history, studying trends in law and order, and the life of the City and its inhabitants over a relatively long period of time. The capital was an area with high levels of crime, the natural place for riot and conspiracy, and attracted a wide variety of people from the whole country and abroad. The main record of proceedings at the sessions will be found in the sessions rolls (MJ/SR and the uncatalogued WJ/SR - index in WJ/CB); the (partially uncatalogued) sessions books (WJ/SB, MJ/SB); and the (partially uncatalogued) sessions papers (WJ/SP, MJ/SP). City administrative work is in the records of the County Day sessions (WJ/O), and for one particular type, in the records of the street surveyors (WJ/SS). Records of judicial procedure are in the records of court fines (WJ/E), writs to summon juries (WJ/W), and the trial process (WJ/Y); Lists of prisoners made at various times during the trial process are in WJ/CC and WJ/CP.

The records of West European Industries Limited consist of Board minutes, annual reports and accounts and financial material. The records are held offsite and require 24 hours notice for access.

Records of Wembley Stadium Public Limited Company relating to the stadium, 1927-1992, including Directors' Board Meetings minutes; correspondence of the Secretary; Wembley Stadium Development Scheme; financial accounts including cash books, journals, day books; wages books; employee record cards; records relating to pensions; race lists of greyhounds and their owners; legal and property records. Also records of associated company Juliana's Discotheques Limited, including minutes, memorandum and articles of association and share certificates.

Records of Welwyn Restaurants Limited, mainly corporate and financial records dated from the 1920s through to the 1960s; including minute books from directors' meetings, Company registers, seal books and accounts.

Victoria Embankment Properties Limited records comprise minutes of board meetings and of annual general meetings, papers submitted to board meetings, directors' annual reports and accounts, balance sheets, profit and loss accounts, and directors' annual reports, journals, ledgers, cash books, revenue ledgers, tenants accounts and papers concerning the construction of Electra House, Temple Place, Victoria.

United Associations Limited records comprise: minutes of the board, 1923-1966 (Ms 23250); and financial accounts including ledgers and cash books, 1923-1967 (Ms 23251-5).

Records of unidentified subsidiary companies of Courage and Company Limited and Barclay Perkins and Company Limited, brewers, including brewing books; monthly beer duty book; photographs of beer tanks and brewery premises; deeds and papers for the Arundel Arms, Westbourne Road, Islington, land in Bury Green Road and Lordship Road, Cheshunt, Herts, the White Hart Hotel, Margate, Kent.

Also roll of plans and artist's views of proposed new brewery in Tanganyika, for Ind Coope and Allsopp Ltd, Burton-on-Trent probably from H and G Simonds and drawings, mainly of fermenters, for New Zealand Breweries Ltd, Wellington.

Personal papers of James Barr, employee of Trumans Ltd, including Transport and General Workers Union cards and papers, Truman's Sports Club rules and fixture lists, and papers relating to the company including redundancy scheme, annual excursions, regulations and agreements, 1939-1989; handbooks, programmes, rules, fixture lists and posters for the London Breweries Amateur Sports Association and the Highgate Harriers Athletic Club, 1951-1979; issues of company publications including 'The Black Eagle', the 'Truman Times', '1666', 'Truman News', 'Truman Topics', 'Watney Truman News' and 'Stag and Eagle' (Watney Combe Reid publication), 1948-1989; annual reports and pension scheme information, 1977-1989; and issues of 'The Master Brewer' and 'The National Brewery Museum Chronicle', 1968-1986.

Records of Trollope and Colls Ltd, builders, and predecessors including Messrs Trollope and Sons (London) Ltd, decorators; Joseph Trollope and Sons, wall paper hangers; Joseph Amos Trollope and George Trollope, decorators; Colls and Sons, builders; George Trollope and Sons and Colls and Sons Ltd, builders.

The records consist mainly of financial records such as customer account books, ledgers, journals and cost books. The letter book of 1797-1808 (B/TRL/9) is of special interest to students of wall paper and interior decoration history. The detailed account books for Trollope and Colls Ltd illustrate the work of a major building firm with a great influence on the London skyline.

Records relate to the operation and acquisition of Top Star Taverns Limited including articles of association, minutes, accounts, and correspondence from the 1970s.

Records of J Lyons and Company Limited and Lyons Tetley Limited, food manufacturers and caterers, W H and F J Horniman and Company Limited and Joseph Tetley and Company, tea merchants, 1849-1978.

This collection contains records relating to all three companies (Horniman, Lyons and Tetley) when they were trading as separate businesses and when they were united under various incarnations of the one "Lyons" name. (They include references to other companies such as Symbol biscuits which Lyons took over in 1944)

However, despite the fact that some corporate records such as minutes have been retained by the Tetley Group Limited the majority of this collection is in fact composed of records relating to the Lyons company (which is necessarily linked with the former due to the fact it was a major competitor for years before taking it over in 1973).

Marketing and publicity aspects are the most heavily represented. As such this is a visually appealing collection and of particular note are the photograph albums and volumes of artwork, product labels and advertisments which are a testiment to the impact tea drinking has had on British society and its way of life.

Records of the Sun Insurance Office Limited relating to premises and property, including plans of London offices; photographs; and correspondence.

THESE RECORDS ARE SUBJECT TO A 50 YEAR CLOSURE PERIOD. LIFE POLICY REGISTERS, CLAIMS REGISTERS AND EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY POLICY REGISTERS ARE CLOSED FOR 75 YEARS.

General administrative records of Sun Insurance Office Limited, including standing order books; resolutions; papers regarding company policy, management and office organisation; papers relating to general insurance matters and other insurance companies; legal memoranda; newspaper cuttings; policy documents; prospectuses; circulars; blank policy forms; booklets; statistics; papers relating to Sun Life Assurance Society; papers relating to the London Fire Engine Establishment and the London Salvage Corps; and a history by FB Relton.

The administrative records cover the domestic division of the Sun into 'Town' and 'Country' departments, and also the records of the foreign division from its inception in 1836.

This section includes notebooks and scrapbooks compiled by Francis Boyer Relton, who was Office Secretary 1873-82.

THESE RECORDS ARE SUBJECT TO A 50 YEAR CLOSURE PERIOD. LIFE POLICY REGISTERS, CLAIMS REGISTERS AND EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY POLICY REGISTERS ARE CLOSED FOR 75 YEARS.

Property records for Style and Winch Limited, brewers, including joint diary with the Royal Brewery Brentford and Dartford Brewery recording notes on premises and public houses; register of insurance for public houses; order book for repairs; tenants dilapidation registers; and repairs ledger.

Corporate records of Style and Winch Limited, brewers, including minutes of Board and general meetings; minutes of joint committee with the Dartford Brewery and the Royal Brewery Brentford; registers of members, shares, mortgages, sealing, and directors; trust deeds; articles of association; directors' reports and accounts; and agreements.

Records of the London Stock Exchange dating from 1798. IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

Records include transcript of the deed of settlement of the Stock Exchange; minutes of the General Purposes Committee and various sub-committees; minutes of the Trustees and Managers; minutes of the Council; minutes of the Federation of Stock Exchanges Committees; administrative records including legal papers, notices, circulars, letters and correspondence, petitions, and reports; financial records including stamp duty books, journals and cash books; applications for membership; members lists and registers; clerks registers; membership statistics; applications for listing; reports regarding applications for permission to deal; papers regarding opposition to listing of certain companies; papers of the Department for the Administration of Defaulters' Estates; specifications, plans and elevations of Exchange buildings; photographs of senior staff from 1886-1900; and a short history (in manuscript) written in 1932.

The manuscript archives of the Exchange are immediately available for research with the exception of the "Applications for Listing" (CLC/B/004/MS18000 and CLC/B/004/MS18000A) which are available by appointment only.

Corporate records of the Staines Reservoir Joint Committee, including Committee meeting attendance books, proceedings books and minutes; legal papers relating to property, rating, water supply, stocks and shares, Parliamentary issues and contracts; correspondence and debenture stock volumes.

Records of Spicers, formerly undertakers, later funeral directors, 1891-1969. The records consist of business registers and journals. Although the period covered is 1891-1969, the high commmencing folio in volume one (foliating through successive volumes was common stationers' practice in the nineteenth century) suggests that there may have been an earlier volume which has not survived. Details range from the size of coffin in the first volume to comprehensive coverage of names, addresses, ages, where died, where service held, where buried or cremated, grave nos, cost etc. in the third. Also two photographs of premises.

Records of Spalding and Hodge, stationers, 1781-1911; and subsidiary or merged companies including Busbridge and Hodge, papermakers and Suttaby and Company, booksellers. Also records of the Stationers' Book Society. The records include business agreements, legal documents relating to properties, wages books, cash books, stock books, bills, rules and regulations for staff, letters patent, brochures about Spalding and Hodge and their history, inventories, correspondence and price lists. Stationers' Book Society records comprise minutes, accounts, and an address by Thomas Spalding.

Corporate records of the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company, including Board meeting minute books; Committee meeting minute books; Secretary's reports; correspondence and letter books; solicitor's accounts; legal papers; records relating to stocks and shares; registers of probates; mortgage records and contracts records.

Records of the South London Waterworks Company (later the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company) including papers relating to shares; minutes of Director's meetings; stock certificates; papers relating to works and papers relating to a lawsuit.

Records of the South Metropolitan Gas Light and Coke Company, 1834-1965. The records include the deed of settlement, minutes of the proprietors' and directors' meetings, reports of general meetings, acts and orders in council and items relating to the South Metropolitan Pension Fund Securities Limited.

Records of the South Berkshire Brewery Company Limited, including Board and annual general meeting minutes; debenture stock certificates; Directors' report and profit and loss account; register of private houses, shops, cottages and other properties; inventories and valuations of freehold, leasehold and copyhold estates and stock.

Records of the Society for Checking the Abuses of Public Advertising (SCAPA), including Executive Committee minute books; financial accounts; lists of members; correspondence, including letters relating to subscriptions, byelaws, cases and litter; petitions; annual reports; publications by SCAPA and others; newspaper cuttings and posters.

Records of Smith Kendon Limited, 1826-1987. The collection mainly comprises the papers of Donald Smith and his capacity as Managing Director and Chairman of Smith Kendon Limited, including papers relating to the formation of the business such as articles of partnership and certificates of registration; deeds and other legal documents relating to property owned by the company; insurance policies; inventories; correspondence; minutes of meetings; Donald Smith's business diaries; sales figures; financial accounts; papers relating to stock and stock control; papers relating to sales; papers relating to products including recipe books; advertising; reports; staff records and papers relating to the Second World War.

The records of Benjamin Slowman, merchant, comprise an order book 1835-42; bought ledger, cash book and vouchers 1820-50; business correspondence 1823-51; and a release regarding the estate of Moses Lewvy, 1848.

This collection consists of various papers on business organisation and management from a diverse selection of companies.

Records of Seager Evans and Company Limited, and subsidiary or merged companies, 1719-1926. This collection contains records of Holland and Co. Ltd. relating to the business, to property, and to mortgage dealings; and records of Seager Evans and Co. Ltd relating to the business, to property, and to mortgage dealings. Also records relating to members of the Seager family in their private capacity and to the estate which William Evans acquired in Chertsey, Surrey.

This POST class comprises papers and copy minutes of the Post Office Board (1934-[1992]), the Post Office Management Board (1970-1979), and the Posts and Girobank Board (1980-1981). The signed minutes of the main Post Office Board are included, 1969-1972.

This POST class also includes papers of subsidiary boards and committees established by the board, or whose papers and minutes were received by the Board. These include the Girobank Board, Parcels Business Board, Post Office Finance Limited Board, the Post Office Board Emergency Committee, the National Joint Policy Council, the Managing Director's Committee: Posts, the Chairman's Executive Committee, the Post Office Executive Committee, the Girobank and Counters Committee, the Audit Committee, the Counters Executive Committee, the Major Projects Expenditure Committee, the Royal Mail Executive Committee, the Letters Management Committee, the Corporate Identitity and design Committee, the Counter Automation Management Committee and ad hoc committees established by the board.

Property records of Royal Brewery Brentford Limited, including quarterly rent journal; insurance register for licensed premises; premises repair order book; tenants' dilapidations ledger and tenancy agreement.

Corporate records of the Royal Brewery Brentford Limited, including Directors' meetings minutes; agreements; share records; registers of seals; articles of association; and annual reports and accounts.

Board and executive committee minutes for the Reserved Assets Company, the assets company for Grahams Trading Company Limited.

Records of the Regent Palace Hotel, London, including:

• Operational records, including Works Manager and Electricians Supervisor files, memorandum books, customer bills and feedback reports, and restaurant menus.
  • Staff handbooks, conditions of employment, and staff attendance statistics.
  • Marketing material, including photographs of the building, guests, staff, and the opening of the Stetson Saloon, newspaper cuttings and advertisements.
  • Plans of the Island Site and Regent Palace Hotel and Annexe, together with copy leases.
  • Historical material compiled by Mr Leigh Smith, Managing Director, including copies of book and journal extracts relating to the hotel, newspaper articles, and original menus from related restaurants.

Records of Reader Brothers, builders, 1895-1980. The collection consists of three main types of record: There is administrative material which includes both the 'formal' records of Reader Brothers (Builders) Limited, such as the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Minutes of meetings, Registers of Members and records relating to shares; as well as various accounts ledgers, cash, petty cash and wages books, diaries and notebooks.

Secondly there are files, planning applications and other legal documents - some with plans attached.

Then there are books and other printed material related to the building trade and lastly there are plans and drawing of housing projects undertaken by the company.

Corporate records of R Halley Limited, brewers, including Board and annual general meeting minutes; papers relating to the acquisition by Harmans Uxbridge Brewery; general correspondence; papers of the Board; papers of the Company Secretary; and annual reports with accounts.

Records of Pritchard and Burton, tobacco manufacturers. The collection contains detailed financial records belonging to the company including balance sheets, private ledgers, departmental account books, journals, cash book, accounts of Alfred Burton's investments and accounts of Edward Pritchard Burton's Estate. There are also photograph albums containing staff portraits (LMA/4577/02/01) and a draft history of the company. The accounts of Alfred Burton's investments are of particular interest as they contain records of payments made to various companies around the world, such as the Grand Trunk Railway, Canada and De Beers consolidated mines (LMA/4577/01/06). The private ledgers also contain detailed capital accounts showing the growth in proprietor assets through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (LMA/4577/01/02).

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to Post Office services in Scotland, although a proportion developed into cases of general interest. 'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed.

The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to Ireland for the period 1841 to 1960. 'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed. The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to all manner of Post Office matters.

'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed. The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to Post Office services in England and Wales for the period 1792 to 1952 (although the vast majority of these records cover the period 1840-1921). It also includes references to Irish and Scottish services until 1840. 'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed. The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

This class comprises of Headquarters case files that came to light after the appropriate class catalogues (POST 30, POST 31, POST 32, POST 33, POST 102 and POST 122) had been completed. It includes files found in the registry repository in the former Headquarters at St Martin's le Grand, which were filed upon completion and then forgotten. It also includes papers which remained with the originating Headquarters departments until the Headquarters moved in 1984. The majority of these are accumulations of files on a common subject spanning several years.

The manner in which this class accumulated means that it covers a wide range of subjects, ranging from allowances for keeping horses (POST 121/159) and cats (POST 121/22) to the Post Office's official attitude to divorce (POST 121/341). There are also a few appointment papers (POST 121/340, POST 121/344, POST 121/352, POST 121/430, and POST 121/431).

This series comprises copy letter books relating to administration of the Post Office in Britain and Ireland and, to an extent, overseas.

This series consists of records of the Public Accounts Audit Commissioners' checks on GPO annual accounts and the Accountant General's checks on accounts received from agents and postmasters in the first half of the 19th century. Also included are various reports and other papers relating to financial systems, methods of accounting and collecting, collating and presenting business statistics in the Post Office.