DRIVERS JONAS AND COMPANY {CHARTERED SURVEYORS}

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 LMA/4673
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: DRIVERS JONAS AND COMPANY {CHARTERED SURVEYORS}
Date(s)	: 1700 - 2011
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 8.2 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Drivers Jonas and Company | 1725-2010 | Chartered Surveyors xx Drivers Jonas Deloitte | 2010-2013 | Chartered Surveyors

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Drivers Jonas and Company were chartered surveyors, estate management agents, valuers and auctioneers, and later property consultants. The firm was founded in 1725 by brothers Samuel Driver (1692-1741) and Charles Driver (1699-), bakers and nurserymen and landowners. The company remained as an independent partnership until the firm was acquired by Deloitte LLP in January 2010, and renamed Drivers Jonas Deloitte. Drivers Jonas was dropped from the name in 2013.

From the late 18th century the firm branched out into auctioneering and estate management for landed estates. Long-standing clients included: Chamberlayne Settled Estates (Southampton, Hampshire); Trustees of the Corporation of Trinity House (Wallace Falkner, House and Estate Agent and Collector of Taxes of 23 Trinity Street, Southwark managed the estates until 1 Jan 1948 when management passed to Drivers Jonas); Earl and Countess of Ilchester (Holland Park Estate, Kensington); Greenwich Hospital Department of the Admiralty; Grosvenor Settled Estates Trustees (Belgravia and Mayfair); Speer Trustees, Viscount Bertie of Thame, Surrey, Colonel Abel Smith, Sir Ronald Gunter (Earls Court and West Hampstead), Reverend George Pollen's Trustees (including Old Burlington Street, Savile Row, Westminster) and James Kent's Estates (including Hoxton and City Road area).

From 1935 the firm partnered G J Brown and Son, surveyors and estate managers of 34 Great George Street, Westminster (1907); 11 Little College Street, Westminster (1923). G J Brown and Son was closed and clients transferred to Drivers Jonas in 1953.

In the later 20th century the firm became leading property consultants specialising as managing agents of commercial property advising landlords and tenants of offices, shops and industrial space on service charges, rents and other costs. In 2007 the company's core values and brand were 'to add value for our clients by giving high quality property advice' as 'leading commercial property consultancy'.

Name changes reflected changes in partnership including:
A P Driver
E and G N Driver
Samuel and Robert C Driver
R C Driver and Company (1863)
Driver and Company, 'Surveyors, Valuers, Land Agents and Auctioneers' (1866)
Drivers and Company (1870s-1890s), 'Surveyors, Land Agents, Timber Valuers and Auctioneers' (1895)
Drivers Jonas and Company (from before 1907), 'Chartered surveyors, land agents and auctioneers, town planning consultants' (1968), 'Chartered Surveyors and Planning Consultants' (1984)
Drivers Jonas Deloitte (trading name for Deloitte LLP) (2010-2013)

OFFICES: Samuel Driver at Wandsworth and Charles Driver at Rotherhithe (1725-1741); Kent Street Road (later Kent Road), Southwark (1741-1816); 13 New Bridge Street, Blackfriars, Southwark (1816-1826); 8 Richmond Terrace, Parliament Street, Whitehall, Westminster (1826-1850); 5 Whitehall (1850-1863); 4 Whitehall (1863-1898); 23 Pall Mall (1898-1919); 7 Charles Street renamed Charles II Street, Saint James's Square, Westminster (1919-1956); Hertford Street (1956-1959); 7 Charles II Street (1959-1969); 18 Pall Mall (1969-after 1979); 16 Suffolk Street (before 1984-1997); 6 Grosvenor Street (from 1998); Drivers Jonas Deloitte (trading name for Deloitte LLP) registered at 2 New Street Square (2010-2013), head office: Athene Place, 66 Shoe Lane, City of London (2010-2013).

The company had branch offices:
1945: The Cross, Chester, Cheshire and 5 Rockstone Place, Southampton, Hampshire
1968: Evershot, Dorset and Southwark.
1979: Aberdeen, Scotland
1984: Norwich, Norfolk ['East Anglia' office], Aberdeen, Scotland and Toronto, Canada; and Glasgow, Scotland (by 1986), 30 Watling Street, City of London (from 1987); Mayfair, Westminster and Montreal, Canada (by 1989); Boston, United States of America (by 1990); Vancouver, Canada (by 1991); Germany (by 1992); Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (by 1993); Manchester (by 1994). Other places in Germany and United States of America; Birmingham (from 1998); the European network of offices expanded to Paris, France (2002), Frankfurt, Germany (2003) and Madrid, Spain (2007).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Drivers Jonas and Company including partnership and related agreements, partners' correspondence, bound printed auction particulars which are listed to item level for properties across the United Kingdom (and some outside the United Kingdom) auctioned by the firm (1803-1935) (series reference code: LMA/4673/D/01); Business Index books (1862-1972) recording clients and work done (series reference code: LMA/4673/D/04), property estate job files and plans. Records of individual estates across London and counties in England include the Corporation of Trinity House, Holland Park Estate, some manorial records for estates in Surrey (series reference code: LMA/4673/D/09) and records inherited by the firm from G J Brown and Son (series reference code: LMA/4673/D/11).

Further records including marketing material including annual reports used for marketing and property guidance publications (197--2011) (series reference code: LMA/4673/E), family papers of the Driver and Jonas families including the records of Samuel and Henry Jonas of Chrishall Grange, Cambridgeshire relating to 19th century East Anglian farm techniques including notebooks (series reference codes: LMA/4673/G/06-07). Hugh Barty-King's research files for the publication 'Scratch a Surveyor' (1975) on the history of the firm include photographs of partners and premises (series reference code: LMA/4673/H/03).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The records are arranged as follows:
LMA/4673/A CORPORATE
LMA/4673/B ADMINISTRATION
LMA/4673/C FINANCE
LMA/4673/D AUCTIONEERS, ESTATE MANAGEMENT AND VALUATIONS
LMA/4673/E PUBLICATIONS, EVENTS AND MARKETING
LMA/4673/F PREMISES AND STAFF
LMA/4673/G FAMILY
LMA/4673/H HISTORY

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright is held by 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:

Donated in 2013 and 2014.

Allied Materials

Related material:

See also general material relating to surveyors held by the Library of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Publication note:

For further information on the history of the firm see 'Scratch a Surveyor' by Hugh Barty-King (1975), publication produced on the 250th anniversary of the firm including family tree, illustrations and list of full partners (reference code: LMA/4673/H/03/001).

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:
Added January 2016.