Records of McMeekin & Co, tea planters, Liverpool, England

Includes:

• Accounting records;
• Corporate records.

McMeekin & Co Ltd, tea planters, Liverpool, England, had close associations with James Finlay & Co Ltd, textile manufacturers, tea planters, and merchants, Glasgow, Scotland. The company was formed c1870s  by Thomas McMeekin, a practical agriculturalist with connections to Patrick Buchanan, founder of P R Buchanan & Co Ltd, tea planters, London, England. It was through Patrick Buchanan that Thomas McMeekin made contact with James Finlay & Co Ltd. McMeekin & Co Ltd's estates had been managed by a firm of managing agents. Around 1880 , there was a disagreement and James Finlay & Co Ltd took over the management of the estates as well as a financial stake in the company. Thomas McMeekin's agricultural expertise was very useful to James Finlay & Co Ltd and he was given charge of the tea department of Finlay, Muir & Co Ltd, agents, and merchants, Calcutta, India. During the early 1880s , Thomas McMeekin attempted to expand his private estate against the perceived interests of John Muir, senior partner of James Finlay & Co Ltd. This dispute led, in 1885 , to the termination of their agreement and the loss of James Finlay & Co Ltd's management of the McMeekin estates. Despite this, the two companies continued their long and fruitful association. In the mid-1880s , McMeekin was a small company, with the partners being simply Thomas McMeekin and John McEwan. However with the dispute over estates in the past, John Muir agreed to provide additional finance to Thomas McMeekin. A new agreement was reached by which Finaly, Muir & Co Ltd shipped teas to London on account of McMeekin & Co Ltd there, and McMeekin & Co Ltd provided in Calcutta expert assistance in tasting and valuing teas and in buying on the Calcutta market. The two companies continued to work closely together through most of the 20th century , and in 1986 , McMeekin & Co (Tea) Ltd became James Finlay Commodities (UK) Ltd. This company was dissolved in 1998 .

Files arranged as received.

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This material has been appraised in line with standard GB 248 procedures. Duplicates have been removed.

None expected

See also GB 248 UGD 091/1/7/5.

Material in other repositories: GB 059 Finlay Campbell & Co and Finlay Muir & Co (British Library: Oriental and India Office Collections)

No known publications using this material

Description compiled in line with the following international standards: International Council on Archives, ISAD(G) Second Edition, September 1999and National Council on Archives, Rules for the construction of personal, place and corporate names

Scotland is the location of all place names in the administrative/biographical history element, unless otherwise stated.

Collection catalogued by members of Glasgow University Archive Services staff. Catalogue converted to Encoded Archival Description by Michelle Kaye, Archives Assistant (Cataloguing), May 2012. Additional material catalogued and converted into Encoded Archival Description by Peter Morphew, Cataloguing Archivist, January 2016.