Records of Amalgamated Tea Estates Co Ltd

Includes:

• Reports and accounts;
• Correspondence;
• Accounting records;
• Bill books;
• Staff and salary books;
• Property records;
• Minute books;
• Assam map;
• Certificates of incorporation;
• Agreements;
• Corporate records.

Amalgamated Tea Estates Co Ltd, tea planters, Glasgow, Scotland, was formed in 1896  (though appears to have staff records dating back to 1892 ), was a subsidiary of James Finlay & Co Ltd, textile manufacturers, tea planters, and merchants, Glasgow, Scotland and was one of the 'Finlay Group' of tea companies. It had for its purpose the consolidation of various tea estates in Darjiling, Assam, and Sylhet in India, and in Sri Lanka. Many of its estates had been in the agency of Finlay, Muir & Co Ltd, agents, and merchants, Calcutta, India, which had built up a strong position in the tea world. It had been Sir John Muir, senior partner in James Finlay & Co Ltd, who had seen the possibilities for investment in the tea industry, which led to the formation of the four companies known as the Finlay Group: Amalgamated Tea Estates Co Ltd, tea planters, Glasgow, 1896 ; The Consolidated Tea & Lands Co Ltd, tea planters, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1896 ; The Kanan Devan Hills Produce Co Ltd, tea planters, Glasgow, 1897 ; and The Anglo-American Direct Tea Trading Co Ltd, tea planters, Edinburgh, 1898 . This radically altered the basis of James Finlay & Co Ltd from a firm with its principal interest in cotton in Scotland to a firm with its principal interests in tea and jute in India. As of 2002  the company was still a non-trading subsidiary of James Finlay plc.

Files arranged as received.

Some files in this collection are subject to Data Protection legislation as they contain sensitive information and material under 30 years old is closed to access. It is advised that you should contact the Duty Archivist before visiting: library-asc@glasgow.ac.uk

None which affect the use of this material

Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use and condition of documents

Any work intended for publication that is based on research from this collection must be approved in advance. Apply in the first instance to Archives and Special Collections, email: library-asc@glasgow.ac.uk

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

None expected

For minutes of directors, see GB 248 UGD 091/1/1/1/4/2/1-28, which relates to all the tea companies. See also GB 248 UGD 091/1/2/2/2 and UGD 091/1/4/7/2/1.

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.