Collection GB 0074 CLC/B/227-171 - SOUTH SEA COMPANY

One production unit.

GB 0074 CLC/B/227-171 1711-1764 Collection One production unit. South Sea Company x Corporation for carrying on trade to the South Seas

The South Sea Company was established in 1711, ostensibly to trade with Spanish South America, but, in fact, as a vehicle for managing government debt incurred during the War of the Spanish Succession. Holders of government debt were persuaded to exchange it for shares in the new Company which by 1720 had made only one, moderately successful, trading voyage and held around £20m of government debt. Company directors continued to talk up the potential of the scheme, provoking feverish speculation followed by a share price collapse in which thousands were ruined.

A Parliamentary investigation uncovered massive fraud by the directors, but the South Sea Company itself survived and continued to trade into the 1760s. It retained a role in the management of the National Debt until effectively abolished in 1854.

These items were extracted from miscellaneous manuscripts in the Noble Collection (Guildhall Library Print Room). The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

Records of the South Sea Company comprising correspondence and receipts.

One file.

Available for general access.

Copyright to this collection rests with the City of London.

English

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Further records of the South Sea Company are held at the British Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science, the Parliamentary Archives (formerly the House of Lords Record Office), and the University of London Library. There are also other records relating to the Company held at London Metropolitan Archives.

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

January to May 2011. Information sources Documents Business records Enterprises Companies Merchant companies Financial resources Debts Investment Finance Public finance South Sea Company x Corporation for carrying on trade to the South Seas City of London London England UK Western Europe Europe

These items were extracted from miscellaneous manuscripts in the Noble Collection (Guildhall Library Print Room). The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

Records of the South Sea Company comprising correspondence and receipts.

One file.

Available for general access.

Copyright to this collection rests with the City of London.

• anglais

• latin

English

Further records of the South Sea Company are held at the British Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science, the Parliamentary Archives (formerly the House of Lords Record Office), and the University of London Library. There are also other records relating to the Company held at London Metropolitan Archives.

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• anglais