Papers of the Howard Syndicate

The series contains extensive administrative, legal and accounting papers for both the Howard Syndicate Ltd and the Société de Travaux Publics au Chili. There are also a number of papers concerning the South American Assets Realisation Company.

In 1908 the government of Chile passed legislation to connect up the fragmented railway system north of Santiago: the Ferrocarril Longitudinal del Norte was to run from Cabildo to Arica in the far north of the country. In 1910 contracts were awarded to the Howard Syndicate to carry out the necessary works between Cabildo and Copiapo, and to the Chilian Longitudinal Railway Construction Company for the section between Copiapo and Arica. Both companies were based in London. The Howard Syndicate, headed by Howard de Walden, contracted Griffiths & Co. as the construction engineers in 1910, and in 1911 appointed the Société de Travaux Publics au Chili, based in France, to oversee general construction. The work was completed in 1913, but under the terms of the contract with the Chilean government the Syndicate found it impossible to run the railway without making a loss. The government took over running the railway in December 1914. The Syndicate maintained that the government had withheld some final payments, but political unrest in Chile delayed official recognition of the debt until 1928. By 1929 the Howard Syndicate was in voluntary liquidation and the debt was taken up by the South American Assets Realisation Co., a company set up in Canada in 1928 to hold securities in Chilean government debt.

J. Henry Schröder & Co. was a major shareholder in the Howard Syndicate, and subsequently in the Société de Travaux Publics au Chili. Albert Pam, of J. Henry Schröder & Co., was a director of the Howard Syndicate and actively involved in its management. The firm acted as a trustee for the company, and provided other banking facilities.

Open for consultation under the usual access conditions for the Schroder Archive.

Three leather bound ledgers are locked.