GILLET BROTHERS LIMITED

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 CLC/B/100
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: GILLET BROTHERS LIMITED
Date(s)	: 1867-1965
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 34 production units.
Name of creator(s)	: Gillet Brothers Ltd | discount bankers

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The firm of Gillett Brothers Discount Company Limited, discount bankers, was founded on 17 August 1867, when the brothers Alfred and George Gillett began business as Gillett Brothers and Company, bill brokers and money dealers, at 72 Lombard Street. The new firm derived some customers from the otherwise unconnected firm of Brightwen, Gillett and Company, bill brokers, of 8 Finch Lane, which had been established in 1861 by a younger brother, William Gillett, and which was dissolved in August 1867.

Gillett Brothers and Company remained a partnership under the same name until 1919, when it became a private limited company with the style of Gillett Brothers Discount Company Limited. It became a public company in 1946.

The firm traded during its history from the following addresses: 72 Lombard Street (1867-1885); 9 Birchin Lane (1885-1892); 58 Lombard Street (1892-1924); 27 Clements Lane (1924-33); 52 Cornhill (1933-1964); 65 Cornhill (from 1964). The firm amalgamated with Jessel Toynbee and Company Limited in 1982, and at the time the records were deposited was part of Alexanders Discount plc.

For a detailed history of the firm see Professor Ronald S Sayers, Gilletts in the London Money Market 1867-1967 (Oxford, 1968). Many research notes, financial tables etc prepared by Prof Sayers and his colleague Miss Audrey Taylor appear amongst the archives. However, a great many of the archives used by Prof Sayers and referred to in his history have not been deposited at Guildhall Library, and their current whereabouts are unknown. These missing records include Gilletts' ledgers and other account books and correspondence with country banks.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Gillet Brothers Limited, discount bankers, including constitutional documents, ledgers, cash books, calculations relating to the firm's business, correspondence, circulars, deeds, notes concerning staff and offices, essays on discount banking by members of the firm, and histories of the firm.

Access & 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:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.

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 records were deposited at Guildhall Library in December 1978 and catalogued in 1991. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

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:
November 2010 to January 2011.