Corporation of London: Brokers
Item
Country
GB
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
40 Northampton Road, London EC1R 0HB
Contact information: phone number
0044 20 7332 3820
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Reference number
COL/BR
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Corporation of London: Brokers
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Corporation of London
Date note
1673/1886
Language(s)
eng
Extent
9 series
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
Brokers is a section of the Corporation of London collection, which includes records of the Court of Aldermen, the Court of Common Council, and respective committees, the Comptroller and City Solicitor, the Chamberlain's Department, the Mansion House, the Planning Department, the Remembrancer's Department, and other records, including a section regarding brokers operating in London.
The Brokers Lists subsections (COL/BR/08), containing alphabetical lists of petitioners to be new brokers from 1708 to 1882, includes numerous mentions of Sephardic businessmen who worked as brokers (see Abrahams, 1937). Further information is contained in other subsections since numerous Portuguese and Spanish Jews worked in brokerage activities in London.
The Brokers Lists subsections (COL/BR/08), containing alphabetical lists of petitioners to be new brokers from 1708 to 1882, includes numerous mentions of Sephardic businessmen who worked as brokers (see Abrahams, 1937). Further information is contained in other subsections since numerous Portuguese and Spanish Jews worked in brokerage activities in London.
Archival history
The records in the Corporation of London Records Office are thought to be one of the finest and most complete municipal archives in Europe. However, researchers may notice some substantial gaps. The majority of the records of the Freedom of the City prior to 1681 and the City's Cash accounts prior to 1632 were either destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666 or in another fire in the Chamber (the finance department of the Corporation) in 1786. Similarly, it is thought that a fire at the Sessions House in the Old Bailey in 1877 destroyed the early Sessions minutes and files, as well as the bulk of the supporting papers. The paucity of surviving Sheriffs' Court records for the medieval period is thought to be because these records were considered to be the personal property of a Sheriff, who might be called upon to produce records in order to account for his actions during his time in office long after his Shrievalty had ended. Similarly, it is thought the records of coroner's inquests have not survived in any quantity before 1788 because inquests were not held in a court building until relatively recently, and so the records of inquests were considered part of the personal papers of office holders rather than administrative records.
Administrative / Biographical history
The Corporation of London is the local authority for the City of London or Square Mile, the financial and commercial centre at the heart of the metropolitan area. With its roots in medieval times, it is probably the oldest local authority in the United Kingdom and has an unusually wide range of responsibilities reflecting both its ancient role as a municipality and its modern-day role as the equivalent of a London Borough. The Corporation of London is also unique in local government as it has no charter of incorporation nor any specific date of establishment: it has evolved organically from earlier bodies. Most other councils in the United Kingdom were either created or substantially reformed in the 19th century or later.
The early history of the Corporation of London is difficult to reconstruct since, in both the United Kingdom and the wider European context, there are virtually no ancient cities with administrative records surviving before the 13th century. In the 10th century, in the reign of King Athelstan, the establishment of eight mints in the City of London provides evidence of the prosperity and importance of the federal state of London, a City composed of Wards governed by Aldermen presiding over their Wardmotes (meeting of citizens of a ward) with a Folkmoot (a pre-Conquest general assembly of the people of a city) for the whole City of London meeting at St Paul's Cathedral. In the following century, after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the victorious William granted the citizens of London a charter ratifying their existing rights and privileges. Although the charter did not grant any new rights, it was an important confirmation of the privileges and laws enjoyed by the "burgesses within London" in the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-66).
Although the City of London continued to retain and enjoy its independent customs and privileges, it still owed allegiance to the Crown and was bound to support the Royal Exchequer. A key stage in the development of autonomous local government was the right of a town or city to appoint its own officials and hence control its own affairs. In England, this generally came through grants of the "farm of the borough", by which townsmen became corporately responsible for paying over the annual royal dues and, by consequence, appointed the officer who accounted for the dues at the Royal Exchequer. Henry I (1100-35) is known to have made this concession to only two places: Lincoln and London. For a fee, both had obtained control of their own farms and officials by 1130. In the case of the citizens of London, emancipation from the royal financial agent was achieved by a charter from King John, dated July 5, 1199, giving them the right to choose the Sheriffs of both London and Middlesex, a right which was exercised until the 19th century.
The office of Alderman predated the Norman Conquest, but the first mention of an Alderman of London by name is not until 1111, while the place-name Aldermanbury appeared in 1128. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Wards in the City of London were still mainly identified by the name of their Alderman although the first full list of Wards under permanent names is dated 1285. The roots of municipal government in the City of London are thus found in the activities of the Aldermen in their Wards, which provided such public services existed in the medieval period. Working individually, or in cooperation, the power of the Aldermen grew as the corporate unity of the City of London developed and they exercised both administrative and judicial functions in what became the Court of Aldermen. Until the 18th century, the Court of Aldermen was the premier governing body of the City of London, and the Aldermen remained an integral part of the Corporation of London.
Also integral to the Corporation of London is the office of Mayor. In the 12th century, London was the first English town to have a Mayor, Henry Fitz Ailwyn, who first appeared around 1189. In 1191, the Londoners secured recognition of the Commune (a municipal corporation or organisation) from Prince John and other magnates. In May 1215, King John granted the citizens the right to elect annually a Mayor who was one of 25 barons appointed to ensure the terms of Magna Carta (Jun 1215) were carried out. By the end of the 14th century, a permanent body chosen by the citizens had been established. Since the 18th century, this body (now known as the Court of Common Council) has been the main governing body of the City of London.
The early history of the Corporation of London is difficult to reconstruct since, in both the United Kingdom and the wider European context, there are virtually no ancient cities with administrative records surviving before the 13th century. In the 10th century, in the reign of King Athelstan, the establishment of eight mints in the City of London provides evidence of the prosperity and importance of the federal state of London, a City composed of Wards governed by Aldermen presiding over their Wardmotes (meeting of citizens of a ward) with a Folkmoot (a pre-Conquest general assembly of the people of a city) for the whole City of London meeting at St Paul's Cathedral. In the following century, after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the victorious William granted the citizens of London a charter ratifying their existing rights and privileges. Although the charter did not grant any new rights, it was an important confirmation of the privileges and laws enjoyed by the "burgesses within London" in the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-66).
Although the City of London continued to retain and enjoy its independent customs and privileges, it still owed allegiance to the Crown and was bound to support the Royal Exchequer. A key stage in the development of autonomous local government was the right of a town or city to appoint its own officials and hence control its own affairs. In England, this generally came through grants of the "farm of the borough", by which townsmen became corporately responsible for paying over the annual royal dues and, by consequence, appointed the officer who accounted for the dues at the Royal Exchequer. Henry I (1100-35) is known to have made this concession to only two places: Lincoln and London. For a fee, both had obtained control of their own farms and officials by 1130. In the case of the citizens of London, emancipation from the royal financial agent was achieved by a charter from King John, dated July 5, 1199, giving them the right to choose the Sheriffs of both London and Middlesex, a right which was exercised until the 19th century.
The office of Alderman predated the Norman Conquest, but the first mention of an Alderman of London by name is not until 1111, while the place-name Aldermanbury appeared in 1128. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Wards in the City of London were still mainly identified by the name of their Alderman although the first full list of Wards under permanent names is dated 1285. The roots of municipal government in the City of London are thus found in the activities of the Aldermen in their Wards, which provided such public services existed in the medieval period. Working individually, or in cooperation, the power of the Aldermen grew as the corporate unity of the City of London developed and they exercised both administrative and judicial functions in what became the Court of Aldermen. Until the 18th century, the Court of Aldermen was the premier governing body of the City of London, and the Aldermen remained an integral part of the Corporation of London.
Also integral to the Corporation of London is the office of Mayor. In the 12th century, London was the first English town to have a Mayor, Henry Fitz Ailwyn, who first appeared around 1189. In 1191, the Londoners secured recognition of the Commune (a municipal corporation or organisation) from Prince John and other magnates. In May 1215, King John granted the citizens the right to elect annually a Mayor who was one of 25 barons appointed to ensure the terms of Magna Carta (Jun 1215) were carried out. By the end of the 14th century, a permanent body chosen by the citizens had been established. Since the 18th century, this body (now known as the Court of Common Council) has been the main governing body of the City of London.
Access points: locations
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
The Brokers section is divided into nine subsections: Rentals, Bonds, Committee Papers, Petitions, Registers, Miscellaneous, Admissions and Discharges, Lists and Rules. Some subsections contain subdivisions. Records are arranged chronologically.
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.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
Published primary sources
Linked resources
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| London Metropolitan Archives, City of London | Collections (official language of the state) |