London Metropolitan Archives - Item Details

ANTONY GIBBS AND SONS LIMITED

Date of Creation:

1683-1954

Reference Code:

CLC/B/012

Scope and Content:
  • Records of Antony Gibbs and Sons Limited, merchants and foreign bankers, and their branches and subsidiaries. Records include papers relating to the Gibbs family; correspondence, letters and letter books; ledgers and other financial records; papers and correspondence of branches in Peru, Chile, Australia, the West Indies, New York, Bristol and Liverpool; memoranda; trading agreements; minutes and reports; papers relating to the guano business and papers relating to the iodine industry.

    Correspondence with foreign branches will be found in a number of different points in the catalogue. A keyword search of the online catalogue by the name of the branch and 'Gibbs' is the easiest access to branch correspondence
Extent: 574 production units.
Classification: BUSINESSES
Former Reference: MS 11021- 45, 11046A-51, 11053-95, 11107-40D, 11467-74, 1686
Site Location: London Metropolitan Archives
Level of Description:
    Collection

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Administrative History:
  • The business of Antony Gibbs and Son was founded in London in 1808. In 1813 it became Antony Gibbs and Sons, and in 1948 Antony Gibbs and Sons Ltd. It was converted into a public company in 1972 and in September 1973 its name was changed to Antony Gibbs Holdings Ltd. The company is now owned by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

    The firm was based at 13 Sherborne Lane, Lombard Street (from ca. 1809), 20 Great Winchester Street (1814-15), 28 Great Winchester Street (1815-26), 47 Lime Street (1826-50) and 15 Bishopsgate, later numbered 22 Bishopsgate (from 1850).

    In 1881 Antony Gibbs and Sons absorbed two associated business houses, which had previously been separate firms: a company in Bristol originating in an eighteenth century partnership and trading from 1801 as Munckley, Gibbs and Richards, from 1802 as Gibbs, Richards and Gibbs, from 1808 as George Gibbs and Son, from 1818 as Gibbs, Son and Bright and from 1839 as Gibbs, Bright and Co; and a company in Liverpool founded in 1805 as Gibbs, Thompson and Co and from 1824 as Gibbs, Bright and Co, with two branch houses in Gloucester (1834-42) and Australia as Bright Brothers and Co (1853-81), with an office in Dunedin, New Zealand from 1864.

    Under the management of Antony Gibbs and Sons from 1881 these houses were re-organised; the Bristol and Liverpool houses traded as Antony Gibbs, Sons and Co, and the Australian house as Gibbs, Bright and Co.

    The company traded overseas under a variety of other names, as follows:
    CADIZ, SPAIN: Antony Gibbs and Son, 1808; Antony Gibbs, Son and Branscombe, 1808-13; and Antony Gibbs Son and Co, 1814-27;
    GIBRALTAR: Gibbs, Casson and Co, 1818-33;
    PERU AND CHILE (LATER ALSO BOLIVIA AND BRAZIL): Gibbs, Crawley, Moens and Co, 1822-4; Gibbs, Crawley and Co, 1824-47; William Gibbs and Co, 1847-79; Gibbs and Co, 1880-1948; Gibbs and Cia S.A.C. from 1948 and Gibbs, Williamson Ltd, from 1933;
    NEW YORK: Antony Gibbs and Co, 1913-20; and Antony Gibbs and Co Inc, from 1920.
Creator: Antony Gibbs and Sons Ltd | merchants and foreign bankers
Copyright: Depositor
Source of Acquisition:
  • The Gibbs archive was deposited with the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in a series of deposits in 1963-5, 1976 and 1982. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.
  • 1975/036
  • 1976/039
  • 1991/019
Access Restrictions: These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 2018
Arrangement: Records arranged by MS number, assigned during cataloguing at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section.