Wallace Brothers and Company (Holdings) Ltd , East India Merchants, bankers and London agents Wallace Brothers and Co Ltd , East India Merchants, bankers and London agents

Wallace Brothers and Company (Holdings) Ltd , East India Merchants, bankers and London agents Wallace Brothers and Co Ltd , East India Merchants, bankers and London agents

Wallace Brothers was established in London in 1862, and remained in business until 1989. It maintained its London headquarters at 8 Austin Friars, 1862-1908; 4 Crosby Square, 1909-79; 33/6 Gracechurch Street, 1979-80; 123/7 Cannon Street, 1980-2; 33/6 Gracechurch Street (again), 1982-5; 38 Bishopsgate, 1986-9.

The company has a complex history. Its origins lay in Bombay, India, where the merchant company of Frith and Company was renamed Wallace and Company in 1848. The first partners in Wallace and Company were Lewis Alexander Wallace and Framji Patel. They were joined by George Wallace in 1850, Robert Wallace in 1857, Alexander Falconer Wallace in 1858 and Richard Wallace in 1860.

All the Wallace partners were brothers; there was a sixth brother William who was not a partner in Wallace and Company but traded in Burma in his own name from ca. 1856. Wallace and Company was reconstituted under the same name in 1862, and opened a branch in Karachi in 1883. In its early years the company acted as shipping agents and exporters and importers of a variety of goods. It remained in existence until the second half of the 20th century, but by 1966 it had become inactive.

William Wallace's business in Burma was bought out in 1863 when the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited was founded. Originally called the Burmah Trading Company Limited, its name was changed shortly after its foundation. From 1863 until the 1950s the senior resident partner of Wallace and Company was its chairman, and Wallace and Company largely directed its affairs. Its head office was in Bombay, but its initial operations were in Burma and branch offices were opened in Rangoon and Moulmein in the 1860s or 1870s.

It expanded its operations into Siam (Thailand) in 1884, Java in 1905-6, South India in 1913, North Borneo in the late 1940s and East Africa in 1955. Its trading interests (some operated directly, others through subsidiary or associated companies) were in teak (and later other timbers too), and in other commodities including rubber (from ca.1907), tea and coffee (from the 1930s) and tapioca (from 1954). The timber trade declined in the mid 20th century and by the late 20th century the company's business was mainly in manufacturing and Indian tea plantations.

All the business activities of Wallace and Company other than the supervision of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited were transferred in 1886 to the newly founded Bombay Company Limited, in which the Wallace family also held a major interest. The main business of this company was the export of raw cotton and the import and sale of manufactured textiles from Lancashire. Its head office was in Bombay but it also took over the former Wallace and Company branch in Karachi. Further branches were opened in Delhi in 1893, Calcutta in 1903 and Madras in 1906. Bombay Company Limited ceased trading in 1969.

Each of these companies had close connections with London. In 1862 the London house of Frith, Sands and Company, which worked closely with Wallace and Company of Bombay, went into voluntary liquidation and was succeeded by Wallace Brothers, a partnership established on 31 December 1862. The first partners were George and Lewis Alexander Wallace. In 1911 the partnership was replaced by a private limited company and the London business became known as Wallace Brothers and Company Limited.

For tax purposes a new company, Wallace Brothers and Company (Holdings) Limited, was formed in 1954. Wallace Brothers and Company Limited then became its wholly owned subsidiary. In May 1970 Wallace Brothers and Company Limited was renamed Wallace Brothers Trading and Industrial Limited.

Following the renaming of the "original" Wallace Brothers and Company Limited, a new company was incorporated on 24 June 1970, also with the name Wallace Brothers and Company Limited. The intention was that this new company should take over the banking activities of the Wallace Brothers group, but the company remained within the group for only two years. It was sold to Drakes Limited in November 1972.

In March 1972 Wallace Brothers and Company (Holdings) Limited acquired E. D. Sassoon Banking Company Limited which then changed its name to Wallace Brothers Sassoon Bank Limited and took over the banking operations of the short-lived Wallace Brothers and Company Limited. Wallace Brothers Sassoon Bank Limited was renamed Wallace Brothers Bank Limited in 1974 and Wallace Brothers (London) Limited in 1981.

Wallace Brothers and Company (Holdings) Limited and its UK subsidiaries were taken over by Standard Bank Limited (later Standard Chartered Bank Limited) in 1977 and were wound up over the following twelve years. Wallace Brothers Trading and Industrial Limited was sold to OSE Holdings (HK) Limited in 1979. Other companies in the Wallace Brothers group were closed down during the 1980s. Wallace Brothers and Company (Holdings) Limited was liquidated in 1989.

In their early years Wallace Brothers described themselves as East India merchants, but they rarely dealt in merchandise. Most of the company's business in London was in undertaking commissions, chartering shipping, financing trade and banking operations,Its normal practice was to explore possible areas of new business and acquire concessions, but to assign trading ventures to associate or subsidiary companies when initial findings were favourable. Besides Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited and Bombay Company Limited, many smaller associate and subsidiary companies were established or acquired by the Wallace Brothers group between the late 19th century and ca. 1975.

A major part of Wallace Brothers' business was to act as the London agents of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited, developing markets in the United Kingdon and continental Europe for shipments of timber and providing finance to bring the cargoes from the Far East. A separate Teak Department was established within Wallace Brothers from 1905 to ca. 1955, with responsibility for arranging, overseeing and promoting sales of timber. Wallace Brothers also purchased machinery and equipment in London on Bombay Burmah's behalf. In practice, however, since the Wallace family were the senior partners in Wallace and Company of Bombay, who in turn were managers of Bombay Burmah, Wallace Brothers were more than Bombay Burmah's London agents. Until the 1950s, Wallace Brothers had the power to exercise control over Bombay Burmah's policy and operations. In the late 19th century Bombay Burmah's dividends and staff pay were decided in London, and until c 1960 its senior (European) staff were selected and appointed there.