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Palace Green Library
Palace Green
DURHAM
DH1 3RN
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)191 334 2972
Email: pg.library@durham.ac.uk
General
Historic printed studies of accounting and finances, and records of accounts, especially for Great Britain but also for France and beyond can be found by searching the printed catalogue by selecting ‘accounts’ or ‘finance as a subject keyword and restricting the search to ‘Special Collections’ or ‘Ushaw College’.
Banking and investment
The Backhouse Papers relate to the family of Jonathan Backhouse junior (1779-1842), Quaker banker of Darlington, and include correspondence, papers, accounts, bills, ledgers and vouchers relating to business and banking matters.
Other relevant collections include the Baker Baker Papers, the Baring (Howick of Glendale) Papers, the Cookson Family papers, the Papers of Charles Robert, 5th Earl Grey and Sir Donald Hawley’s papers relating to some of the early activities of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
Publications of and about local banks can also be found in such as the Grey pamphlets and also the printed Local collection.
Local business records
Relevant collections include the business records of the Backhouse family from Darlington, and the Baker Baker Papers, which relate to the business affairs of the Baker family of County Durham. The archive of the Spennymoor Settlement is also much concerned with its financial administration.
The Ushaw College archive contains material concerning the business affairs and financial administration of the College, which was largely self-sufficient during its time as a Catholic seminary from 1808 to 2010.
The archive of the university itself has much on its financial affairs, including the accounting of its income and expenditure, and the management of its investment and property portfolios, dating back to its inception in 1832.
There are also some histories of local businesses in the printed Local Collection, and much to be found on their development and activities in such as local directories and local newspapers, much of the latter accessible on microfilm. The Local Collection also has published annual accounts of numbers of local organisations and the publications of the Surtees Society are redolent with financial records of particularly medieval local institutions.
Financial administration of the Church of England
The Durham Cathedral Muniments provide a crucial insight into the economic history of the north-east of England. The medieval muniments date from the eleventh century and relate to the financial administration of Durham Cathedral prior to 1539. The best introduction to its accounting practices is Alisdair Dobie’s Accounting at Durham Cathedral Priory (Basingstoke, 2015), supported by editions of various of its accounts in the Surtees Society series. The post-medieval muniments record the financial affairs of the Dean and Chapter, one of the largest landowners in the north-east.
The Church Commission deposit of Durham palatinate and bishopric records relate to the financial administration of the Palatinate of Durham prior to the nineteenth century. For examples of the coinage that facilitated these financial records, there is also the Durham Palatinate Mint Coin Collection.
The Papers of Charles Robert, 5th Earl Grey shed crucial light on the financial administration of the Church of England during the nineteenth century, including papers relating to the Church Assembly and the Central Board of Finance, as well as clergy pension schemes and the abolition of the tithe rent charge.
Financial administration of Africa
The Sudan Archive contains a substantial amount of material relating to the financial administration of Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The papers of Shuqair, S. relate to Sudan Government finances, the Bank of Abyssinia, and Palestine and Syria finances 1918-1919 whilst the papers of Cummins, J. W. include official documents relating to Sudan finance during periods of war. Other relevant collections include Carmichael, J. and Bulkeley, R. I. P.
Printed accounts for Egypt can also be found in the Abbas Hilmi II papers.
