Sandbach Tinne and Co. correspondence

Five letters of correspondence (two separate items) between Messrs McInroy Parker of Glasgow (Demerara plantation owners) addressed to their sister firm, Sandbach Tinne & Co, Liverpool. The first letter deals with possibility of purchasing a distressed Demerara plantation. The second communication also deals with plantation issues. The most lengthy letter is from N. M. Manget in Demerara about his purchase of a plantation. It sets out the details of the deal which includes bills drawn "for the payment of 91 Negroes a fine set from the Estate Washington".

James McInroy came to Demerara in 1782, and plated or acquired a sugar plantation soon after his arrival. By 1790 he was joined by Samuel Sandbach, Charles Stewart Parker and George Robertson, and the company, McInroy Sandbach & Co was founded. At first the head office was in Glasgow under the name McInroy Parker & Co, and in 1804 a branch was founded in Liverpool, which later became the company headquaters. In 1813 Philip Tinné was taken into the partnership and the company became known as Sandbach, Tinné & Co in Liverpool, and McInroy Sandbach & Co in Demerara (in 1861 changed to Sandbach Parker & Co). They were importers and exporters, shipping and estate agents, mainly concerned with sugar, coffee, molasses and rum, but also in 'prime Gold Coast Negroes' (J Rodway: 'History of British Guiana', 1893). The families intermarried and the sons and sons in law entered the business. The earliest accounts available at Companies House are for 1948. These show Parkers, a Sandbach and later a Tinné still involved in the company. However they are a part of a larger group Demerara Co Ltd. In the early 1960s the company experienced its first losses, and several shake ups in the Board of Directors followed. Business continued to go badly, and by 1969 the Companyhad been taken over by Jessel Securities. Sandbach Industries went into liquidation in 1969, and K R Hunt Ltd and Sandbach Export Ltd were sold off.The company was wound up in 1972, and Jessel Securities itself later went into liquidation.

Open for research although at least 24 hours notice should be given.

Part of the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature.

Catalogued to fonds-level online, http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/dispatcher.aspx?action=search&database=ChoiceArchive&search=priref=110050333

The Library also holds other archive collections of Sandbach Tinne and Co. correspondence (ICS70, MS677).