This document was supplied by the depositor and has been modified by AHDS History SN 5622 - Constructing the Company: Governance and Procedures in British and Irish Joint Stock Companies, 1720-1844 Study Documentation Full summary of codes used in the database The database contains 96 fields and 514 records. Each record contains information about a company. The first 9 fields are unnumbered, and contain summary information about the company. The remaining 87 fields are numbered. Not all numbers are used: some information was collected from the company constitutions, but was not used in the final database. Some fields were added during or after the data collection phase of the project, and are designated by a number and a letter (e.g. 7C). One field, 60B2, has a number, a letter, and a subsequent number. Each field also has a name, which is given immediately after the number. id A unique identifying number, automatically generated by the database software. name For this field we entered the name of the company, as given in the constitutional document. date We entered the date of the constitutional document. This was not necessarily the date at which the company was established, or began to operate. period This field splits the companies into two periods: 1720-1825 1826-44 sub-period This field splits the companies into eight sub-periods: 1720-99 1800-09 1810-19 1820-24 1824-29 1830-34 1 1835-39 1840-44 type of company For this field we entered: Inc: incorporated. Un: unincorporated. It is possible to distinguish between companies incorporated by charter and by Act of Parliament by using this field in connection with field 78A. sector For this field, we entered one of the following: Banking Bridges Canals (includes river navigation companies) Colonial (companies operating overseas or in the colonies: these include trading, investment and mining companies) Gas Harbours Insurance Manufacturing/trade Property Railways Shipping Water Where a company operated in two sectors (for example, the Ashton-under-Lyne Gas and Water Company), we entered the first named sector (in this case, Gas). country For this field we entered: England Scotland Ireland Wales Colonial Companies operating in Ireland, Wales or Scotland but headquartered in England were entered as Ireland/Wales/Scotland. region 2 The regions used are based on C. H. Lee, British Regional Employment Statistics 1841-1971 (Cambridge, 1979), p. 40. However, these have been amended to take account of the spread of the companies in the database. London and Middlesex South East (Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxon, Bucks, Beds, Herts, Essex) South West (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Gloucs, Wiltshire, Dorset) West Midlands (Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffs, Warwickshire, Worcs) East Midlands (Derbyshire, Notts, Leics, Lincolnshire, Northants, Rutland, Cambridge, Hunts, Norfolk, Suffolk) Yorkshire and Humberside (West Riding, East Riding) North (North Riding, Westmorland, Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham) North West (Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside) Wales Ireland Strathclyde (Argyll, Ayr, Bute, Dunbarton, Lanark, Renfrew, Dumfries, Galloway, Kirkcudbright, Wigtown) Lothian and Borders (Haddington, Midlothian (Edinburgh), Linlithgow, Berwickshire [not Berwick-upon-Tweed – this is in England, North region], Peebles, Roxburgh, Selkirk) Other Scotland (Clackmannan, Fife, Stirlingshire, Angus, Kinross, Perth, Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine, Moray, Caithness, Inverness, Nairn, Orkney and Shetland, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland) Colonial For companies whose business covered more than one region, we enetered the region corresponding to the first place of business mentioned in the company’s name, unless there were compelling reasons to code otherwise. Where this was not possible, we used other information to ascertain the place of business: for example, location of OGMs or board meetings, the local newspapers used for advertising, etc. Companies operating in Ireland, Wales or Scotland but headquartered in England were entered as Ireland or Wales or the appropriate Scottish region. 1 nominal share capital £ We entered a number, or left this field blank where the capital was not given. We used two decimal places in three cases where the capital stock was not a whole number of pounds; otherwise the sums are all in whole pounds. 4 number of shares issued We entered a number, or left this field blank where the number of shares was not given. Where there were obvious errors in acts or deeds, we silently corrected them. 3 5 share denomination We entered a number, or left this field blank where the share denomination was not given. Where there were different share denominations, we entered the lowest. We used two decimal places where necessary; otherwise the sums are all in whole numbers of pounds. In some cases (detailed in the data entry notes), where no share denomination was given, we ‘invented’ one of £100 so as not to lose data elsewhere. 7B provision for increasing original share capital For this field we entered: GM: where GM authority was required to increase the capital. Directors: where directors could act independently of GM (including companies where a GM could also authorise an increase). Yes: where there was provision for increasing the share capital, but no indication whether GM approval was needed or not. Not given: where there was no mention of increasing the share capital. We included cases where the constitution permitted the company to raise additional capital, but only through contributions by existing shareholders. If ‘the said Company of Proprietors, or their Committee of Management’ could increase capital, we entered Yes. Where GM approval was required, but the GM must first be called by the directors, we entered GM. Where the directors could increase the capital of the company, but their decision must be confirmed by vote of GM, we entered GM. 7C maximum amount of additional share capital Where there was a maximum amount of additional share capital that could be raised, we entered the number; otherwise we left this field blank. In some cases, the maximum applied to the total sum that could be raise by share issue and/or borrowing. Where this was the case, we entered this sum here and in field 75A, and we entered Yes in field 75B. 9 number of directors We entered a number, or left this field blank where there was no indication of the number of directors (this was case in four companies). 4 We entered the minimum number of directors, before any variation in the size of board permitted in the constitution; where no minimum number was given, we entered the number of directors’ names given in the constitution. Where there were two different board sizes, one applying while an undertaking (e.g. a canal) was under construction, and one applying thereafter, we entered the second number. Managers who sat on the board ex officio were not counted as board members. Where there were trustees who were permanent members of the board, these were counted as board members (and were taken into account in variables 14C and 65). Managing Directors appointed from among the directors are captured in variable 19. Where external bodies appointed a director or directors, or certain outsiders sat ex officio on the board, these directors were included in the total number. Where external bodies appointed a director or directors, but only as long as they held shares and by virtue of holding shares, this was treated the same as when external bodies appointed directors or certain outsiders sat ex officio on the board. We ignored ‘extraordinary directors’ for the purposes of this (and other) fields, even where these were elected by the shareholders, and even when they could attend board meetings. 9B name given to directors D: where the directors were styled ‘directors’, ‘board of directors’, etc. C: where the directors were styled ‘committee of management’, ‘committee’, etc. CD: where the directors were styled ‘committee of directors’. Other: where any other style was used. 11 number of trustees We entered a number, or left this field blank in cases where a company did not have trustees. We entered the minimum number of trustees; and where no minimum number was given, we entered the number of trustees named in the deed. In other cases, we used the following codes: 95: where there were trustees appointed by the company, but no number given or names. 96: where salaried officer(s) and director(s) functioned as trustees. 97: where salaried officer(s) functioned as trustees. 98: where the whole board, or some part of it, functioned as trust, with no process of appointment. We regarded ‘Commissioners’, where they were clearly acting as trustees, as trustees for this and other relevant fields. 11B appointment of trustees 5 For this field we entered: GM: where there were any GM rights over the appointment of trustees, including where GM or directors appointed trustees. Directors: where the appointment of trustees was exclusively vested in the board. Board: where the board and/or salaried officer(s) functioned as trust, with no process of appointment (see variable 11 above). Not given This field deals with the appointment, not dismissal, of trustees: where the GM could dismiss trustees, but there were no GM rights of appointment, we did not enter GM. 12 number of subscribers to original share issue The intention of the database was to include only companies with 13 or more shareholders. This threshhold is based on C. W. Munn, The Scottish Provincial Banking Companies 1747-1864 (Edinburgh: Donald, 1981), pp. 20-1. We entered a number, where the number of subscribers was known, or left this field blank. We used lists of subscribers, or the number of signatures at the end of a constitutional document, where these were available and where we could be reasonably sure that they were complete. Many incorporating Acts listed the names of the subscribers to an incorporated company. It is clear that not all the lists in such documents were complete.