Graphical version

London Metropolitan Archives

J. CARTER AND COMPANY (LIME STREET) LIMITED


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/B/129

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: J. CARTER AND COMPANY (LIME STREET) LIMITED

Date(s): 1948-1974

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 88 production units.

Name of creator(s): J Carter and Co (Lime Street) Ltd | office furnishers and fitters

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

In the letterheads of this company, the establishment date is given as 1830. However nothing is known of the business before c 1841 when Joseph Carter established his business as a carpenter, builder and decorator in Wellington Street, Clerkenwell. In Kelly's trade directory for 1877 Joseph Carter is described as a furniture dealer at 12 and 34 Lime Street, with additional premises at 13 Lime Street. Following the death of Joseph Carter in 1877, William Albert Bird took over the business under the name Joseph Carter and Company. The name was changed to J. Carter and Company in c 1897 and to J Carter and Company (Lime Street) Limited in c 1948. The business was described as office furnishers, fitters, removers and decorators. In late 1973 the company ceased trading in its own name and bought shares in DSI Design Group Limited.

In 1976 the share holding in DSI Design Group Limited was sold, thus severing connections with the company. In the same year, J. Carter and Company (Lime Street) Limited changed its name to J Carter and Company (Lime Street) (Holdings) Limited. A new trading company was created (financed from the Holdings Company) using the old name J. Carter and Company (Lime Street) Limited and trading from 15 Dock Street, London. These premises were sold in 1986 and in 1987 the company moved to 29/30 Sidney Grove, off Wakley Street. In 1995 the trading company was closed but the Holdings company remained active, operating merely as an investment company. Most of this information has been taken from F G Bird, A family history : a history of J Carter and Company and its association with the Bird family (2000), available in the Printed Books Section of Guildhall Library.

The company was based at 1 Wellington Street, Clerkenwell (later known as Lever Street) (ca.1841-1862), 14 Leadenhall Market (1862-8), 12 Lime Street (1868-1973), 15 Dock Street (1973-86), and 29/30 Sidney Grove, EC1 (1987-95). Between 1894 and 1900 the company moved the works from Leadenhall Place to 12 Sheppey Place, and also took on premises at 1 Fenchurch Avenue, which continued into the 1920s. The Sheppey Place works were moved to Dock Street in Stepney in 1921.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of J Carter and Company (Lime Street) Limited, office furnishers and fitters, including sales ledgers, day books, journals, rough books and cash books.

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:

Access by appointment only. Please contact staff.

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:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The company's archives were donated to the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in 1996. They were catalogued by a member of Guildhall Library staff in 2008. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note:

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: January to May 2011.


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Business records | Documents | Information sources
Financial records | Documents | Information sources
Interior decorators | Painters and decorators | People by occupation | People
Painting and decorating | Trades (occupations)

Personal names

Corporate names
J Carter and Co (Lime Street) Ltd | decorators

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