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School of Oriental and African Studies

Serdang Central Plantations Ltd


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0102 MS 380477

Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies

Title: Serdang Central Plantations Ltd

Date(s): Created 1909-1932

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 1 box

Name of creator(s): Serdang Central Plantations Ltd

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Serdang Central Plantations Ltd. was registered as a company on 12 January 1909, to acquire and manage estates and plantations for the production of rubber, coffee, cocoa and other crops. The company's registered offices were at Mincing Lane House, Eastcheap, London. The Directors in 1909 were William Frederick de Bois Maclaren, Herbert Wright, Frank Copeman and James Charles Tate. The first Annual General Meeting of the company was held on 16 March 1909. The first estates to be purchased were Soekaloewi and Boloewa, Malaysia. This was extended in 1929 with the acquisition of the Wassenaar Estate in the Tamiang District of Sumatra.

By 1918 the company was feeling the effects of wider problems in the rubber plantation industry caused by a lack of shipping, the restriction of imports imposed by the Government of the United States of America and the consequently low prices of rubber. By 1921, the company had joined the restriction scheme of the Rubber Growers' Association in an attempt to stabilise prices. By 1932 the company faced liquidation, and turned to its shareholders to support a voluntary liquidation of the company and reconstruction of a new company under the same name. The new company was incorporated on 8th September 1932.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records, 1909-1932, of Serdang Central Plantations Ltd, comprising Articles of Association, correspondence, annual reports and agreements relating to the voluntary liquidation and reconstruction.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

The material has been arranged in chronological order.

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Transferred to SOAS in July 1989, through the British Records Association.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Date(s) of descriptions: 15 May 2000


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Agricultural enterprises | Enterprises
Beverages | Food | Agricultural products
Cocoa | Plant products | Agricultural products
Coffee | Plant products | Agricultural products
Exports/imports | International trade | Trade
Financial administration | Finance
Plantations | Agricultural land
Private enterprises | Enterprises
Rubber | Forest products | Agricultural products
Trade (practice)

Personal names

Corporate names
Serdang Central Plantations Ltd

Places
Malaysia | South East Asia
Sumatra | Indonesia | South East Asia