Guide to the Records of Antony Gibbs and Sons Ltd (as filmed by the AJCP), 1853-1930

Request this via the Catalogue

Filter Online content

Some materials from this collection are available online.

Show only online content

Online content

View online

Summary

Collection number:

M1368-M1398

Creator:

Antony Gibbs and Sons Ltd

Extent:

54 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the London Metropolitan Archives and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the London Metropolitan Archives and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: Western Australasian Trade Section Minute Book. 22 April 1895- 12 October 1904, London Metropolitan Archives. MS 16512 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-798920226).

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Private letters to partners 1884-1919.

Directors' special out-letter-books 1881-1929, including letters of H.C. Gibbs, Alban G.H. Gibbs (later Lord Aldenham) and F.A. Keating.

Out-letter-books 1884-1911 of Francis A. Keating, manager of the Australian branch.

Records and accounts 1897-1898 concerning relations between Gibbs, Bright Co and New Zealand Exploration Co Ltd.

London office confidential information book 1883-1905 referring to British and overseas merchant firms.

Records 1884-1909 of Liverpool house, including reports on other banking and merchant firms.

Letters and other records 1883-1887 of the Melbourne house mainly concerning sheep farming and the wool trade.

Papers 1918-1920 of F.A. Keating, including letters from the managers of the Melbourne and Sydney houses.

Annual accounts 1910-1924 of the Australian branches.

Australasian private letter-books 1910-30 (12 vols).

Private letters 1883-1884 of Vicary Gibbs while serving with Australian branches, chiefly written to his brother Alban G.H. Gibbs.

Private out-letter-book 1911-1930 of London house concerning Australian branches.

Memoranda, minutes, agreements and other records 1903-1930 of the London office, mainly referring to minerals and other foreign industrial concerns.

Chartering ledgers 1913-1930.

Biographical / Historical:

Antony Gibbs opened his London mercantile house in 1808. His brother George Gibbs was the founder of Gibbs, Bright Co, a shipping and mercantile firm of Bristol, Liverpool and London. A branch of Gibbs, Bright Co was established in Melbourne in 1856 by Charles Bright (1829-1915) and branches were later established at Brisbane, Dunedin, Sydney, Adelaide, Newcastle, Kalgoorlie, Fremantle, Perth, Cairns and Hobart. The firm was prominent in Australian shipping, importing, mining, stevedoring, wool, timber and pastoral investment. From 1881 onwards its parent company was Antony Gibbs Sons.

Antony Gibbs (1756-1815) was apprenticed to an Exeter merchant and by 1780 had established his own exporting business at Exeter. From 1789 to 1805 he was a travelling agent in Spain and Portugal for English textile and other manufacturers and he also exported wool and other goods to England. The renewal of war forced him to leave Spain and in 1808, in partnership with his son George H. Gibbs, he established in London the firm of Antony Gibbs and Son. In 1813 when William Gibbs joined the partnership the firm became Antony Gibbs and Sons. The firm originally concentrated on trade with Spain, but after 1822 it developed extensive trading and manufacturing interests in South America, culminating in 1843-1875 in the great guano export trade.

George Gibbs (1753-1818), a brother of Antony Gibbs, was apprenticed to his cousin, Samuel Munckley, a Bristol merchant, and in 1789 he became a partner in the firm. Munckley died in 1801 and the firm became Gibbs, Richards and Gibbs. In 1805 it opened a branch in Liverpool which marketed West Indian produce. On the retirement of George Gibbs in 1818, Robert Bright became a partner in the Bristol firm, the name of the firm changing to Gibbs Sons and Bright. His brother Samuel Bright was made a partner in the Liverpool firm in 1824, its name being altered to Gibbs, Bright Co. A son of Robert Bright, Charles Bright (1829-1915) was sent to Melbourne in 1853 to establish the firm of Bright Bros. Co., steamship and insurance agents. Branches were later established at Brisbane (1862), Dunedin (1864) and Sydney (1875).

In 1881 Antony Gibbs and Sons Ltd. absorbed the Bristol, Liverpool and Australasian branches. The name of the Australasian branches became Gibbs, Bright Co. The senior partner in the firm, Henry II. Gibbs, was created Baron Aldenham in 1896. Three of his sons spent periods in Australia: A.G.H. Gibbs (later Lord Aldenham) in 1881-1882, Vicary Gibbs in 1883-1884, and Henry L. Gibbs in 1893-1895 and 1903. Branches were established at Adelaide (1883), Newcastle (1885), Kalgoorlie (1908), Fremantle (1908), Perth (1922), Cairns (1946) and Hobart (1952). The firm was always involved in the shipping and pastoral industries and in representing insurance companies. Before World War I it handled a large importing business. In 1898 it became managing agents for the sulphide Corporation and it was later a major share-holder in several mining companies. It was a distributor for the products of Lysaght Bros. and after World War I became active in the timber and stevedoring industries.

Source: W. Maude. Antony Gibbs Sons Ltd: merchants and bankers, 1808-1958. London, 1958.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the London Metropolitan Archives. For more information contact London Metropolitan Archives Enquiry service [https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/visitor-information/Pages/enquiry-service.aspx].