Further+Information

=Further Information=

Company registration was introduced in the Joint Stock Act of 1856 to provide the public with a degree of regulatory protection, and now almost all commercial companies are registered. Although many companies in Scotland were formed before this date, they were often partnerships between individuals or family concerns passed down from generation to generation. Under the Act companies became more independent from their original founders, and began to become autonomous actors within Scottish community and history in their own right.

Unlike firms and businesses founded before the act, only a fraction of the history of these companies can be found in the biography of the individuals who created them. Instead the story of registered companies can only be told by the records and archives of the companies themselves. Therefore the records of these organisations are an incredibly precious and unique resource. For the business they create a corporate store of information and experience that is longer and more reliable than any human memory. This can be researched and tapped, adding prestige to the brand through its heritage, and allowing the company to learn from past choices, actions and interactions.

However the records and archives can also provide a narrative of company interaction with employees, customers and communities. Historians are increasingly aware of the importance of this narrative in Scottish life, especially in the last hundred years, and seek ways of capturing these relationships for the historical record. Without business records and archives future researchers would be robbed of a complete picture of Scottish history, and future businesses would be deprived of the expertise and innovations documented within.

Companies House files are the official, public record of a company’s existence and they generally contain memoranda of association, lists of shareholders and directors (including their occupation and address), financial statements and, once the company is dissolved, details of the winding up. 20 years after the dissolution of the company these records are passed onto the National Archives of Scotland, which holds them in place permanently.

However these records are only a fraction of material that a company generates during its existence, which may include records of higher management choices and decision making, technical records documenting innovation and design, and publicity and promotional material. This project seeks to identify the whereabouts of the wider range of material whether in existing archival collections, private holdings, or forgotten in the basement or cellar of successor businesses. The BACS Surveying Officer hopes that this project will create new corporate contacts and stakeholders, refresh existing information and data on existing collections, and raise the profile of the BACS and the SBAS to encourage further corporate development.

See the Businesslink.gov page on limited companies in the UK Company House website