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London Metropolitan Archives

CHARLES BARKER AND SONS LIMITED


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/041

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: CHARLES BARKER AND SONS LIMITED

Date(s): 1815-1979

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 179 production units.

Name of creator(s): Charles Barker and Sons Ltd | advertising agents

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The company originated circa 1812 as Lawson and Barker, a partnership between James Lawson the printer of The Times, and Charles Barker. The location of its first office is uncertain but from evidence in directories and a letter book (Ms 20011) it was established at 12 Birchin Lane by 1826. The partnership seems to have been dissolved circa 1834, since directory entries from 1835 appear under Barker, and letters in the letter book are signed in the name of Charles Barker only from December 1833. In 1856 the business moved to 8 Birchin Lane. In 1859 Charles Barker died and in 1860 the style of the firm was changed to Charles Barker and Sons, advertising agents. In 1913 it was incorporated as a private limited company, and moved to 2 White Lion Court, Cornhill. In 1921 it moved to 31 Budge Row, in 1957 to Gateway House, 1 Watling Street, in 1962 to 20 Cannon Street and in 1973 to 30 Farringdon Street.

The original partnership was described variously in directories as 'newsagents', 'newspaper agents' or 'correspondence and advertising agents'. It acted as the advertising agent for The Times and provided newsletters of parliamentary and financial affairs to provincial and foreign newspapers, based upon The Times news service, supplemented by a parliamentary reporting staff of its own.

Commercial and financial advertising rapidly expanded through the foreign loans announcements by merchant banks, the railway 'boom' of the 1830s and '40's, and the advertising of joint stock companies from the 1860s. The firm published the Joint Stock Companies Directory (a forerunner of the Stock Exchange Year Book) from 1867 to 1874. After the first world war the company began to accept customer advertising, notably for Rolls Royce, and in the 1950s to make advertising films. In 1962 a public relations department was formed which joined the financial advertising division in 1968 to form a separate subsidiary, Charles Barker City Limited.

In 1970 other specialised subsidiaries were formed:- Charles Barker Recruitment Limited, Charles Barker Advertising Limited (Consumer) and Charles Barker Films Limited. The company has expanded to provincial cities- Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Birmingham- and, since 1973, overseas to Australia, Canada, Germany etc.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Charles Barker and Sons Ltd, advertising agency, as follows:-
Mss. 19973-19979: Foundation and Constitution: memorandum and articles of association, certificate of incorporation, shares and related papers;
Mss. 19980-19981: Management: minutes and related papers;
Mss. 19982-20007: Finance: private accounts; annual reports and accounts, ledgers, journals, cash books etc;
Mss. 20008-20028: Administration: advertising record and order books, correspondence and miscellaneous papers, clients lists, newsletter of 1824, papers relating to Joint Stock Companies Directory, reports and scripts;
Mss. 20029-20034: Samples of advertising proofs;
Mss. 20035-20038: Scrapbooks of press cuttings relating to clients and bankers;
Mss 20039-20041: Press releases and miscellaneous press cuttings;
Mss 20042-20044: Printed information booklets relating to the company, presentation documents;
Mss 20045-20055: Personnel: records of appointment, remuneration, fees etc. of partners, directors and managers;
Mss 20056-20058: Property;
Mss 20059-20067: Miscellaneous: company history, personal and genealogical papers relating to the Barker family (see also Ms 19982).

Also records of Barker Family (MS 19982, 20007, 20065), 1764-1905. The records comprise private accounts, receipts and notices concerning life assurance policies and investments, and genealogical notes.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Records arranged by MS number, assigned during cataloguing at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information may be subject to access restrictions.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to this collection rests with the City of London.

Finding aids:

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

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

The loose and filed items in this archive are largely an artifical accumulation made from the records of the firm and from the records in the custody of Mrs P. M. Wood (a descendent of Charles Barker) by James Derriman, Company Secretary in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Derriman's original listing and class location have not been adhered to in the following catalogue, but his numbering has been indicated and his lists have been annotated and incorporated as Ms 20067.

Immediate source of acquisition:

They were deposited in the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in 1981 and presented as a gift in 1988. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES Rules or conventions: 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.

Date(s) of descriptions: November 2010 to January 2011.


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Advertisements | Advertising | Communication process
Business records | Documents | Information sources
News agencies | Publishing industry
News flow | Information transfer | Communication process
Newspaper publishing | Publishing | Publishing industry
Newspapers | Periodicals | Publications | Communications media | Information sciences
Press advertising | Advertising | Communication process

Personal names

Corporate names
Charles Barker and Sons Ltd | advertising agents

Places
City of London | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe