Various items representative of Company history

Various items deriving from the office of C L J Wardley, Company Secretary of Cooper, McDougall & Robertson Ltd, presumably retained together as material of company-history interest. The file comprises:

18 September, 1907. Power of Attorney in favour of Mr Penistan, in respect of business in the Russian Empire. Document in Russian with translation into English.

27 November, 1913. Power of Attorney, Richard Ashmole Cooper to Robert Hare Fitzroy Dumaresq, of East London in the Colony of Good Hope.

26 August, 1914. Power of Attorney, Richard Ashmole Cooper to Charles Timson, "in all parts of the Union of South Africa and Rhodesia...."

1915. Power of Attorney, in favour of Gregory Ivanovich Virrich, to act as a Clearing Agent. Document in Russian with translation into English.

14 August, 1917. Power of Attorney, Richard Ashmole Cooper to Reginald Edmund De Beer, to appear before the Registrar of Deeds, Vryburg, to secure the release of a piece of land ("a portion of the farm Thoresby, situate in the Division of Kuruman").

1 November, 1918. Signed Agreement between McDougall Brothers Ltd, of Manchester, and O F Ricketts, of Kuching, Sarawak, to act as Agent and Representative "for the planting and growing of such acreages as may be required of Tuba, either of Rabut or Tedong variety and such other varieties as may be required...."

10 June, 1921. Signed and sealed Agreement between William Cooper & Nephews Ltd and Robert Sorley Johnston, appointing him as Assistant Manager in Uruguay.

11 July, 1928. Signed letter, Claude A Lowe, of Kerol Ltd, Queenstown Cape Province (incorporated with Cooper, McDougall & Robertson, South Africa Proprietary Ltd) to T H Lloyd, Kerol Ltd, Berkhamsted. Conversational letter, referring to commission and personal health. "As a rule, as soon as I feel a little off colour, I spend a day or two round amongst the farmers, and dodge their meal hours so as not to get roped in to eating their dead sheep, and thus keep up 100% efficiency."

1929-1940. Various papers relating to James Gibbs, including a signed and sealed Agreement (24 July, 1929) appointing him as Assistant to the Managing Director of Cooper, McDougall & Robertson Ltd, papers relating to his subsequent appointment as General Manager (1 January, 1931), and his retirement (30 September, 1939) and details of a retirement presentation.

1930. Papers concerning the appointment of Dr Sidney Williamson as Administrator of the Cooper Technical Bureau (1 January, 1931). With a Report by Sir R A Cooper and T H Lloyd "On the Re-Organisation of the Bureau" (9 December, 1930), and "Proposals for the Reform of the Cooper Technical Bureau" (December 1930).

August 1939. Mounted group photograph (180 x 245mm) of Travellers' Dinner, Buenos Aires, William Cooper & Nephews (South America) Ltd. Twenty individuals assembled, with name key verso (J J Elorza, E V James, G Spilsbury, D M Healy, A M Boyle, R Christie, E M Macrae, C Cowan, K H Paine, G C Barber, F Wagner, T C B, C E Brooke, W C Black, E Premazzi, B Escalas, W Downing, R Soto A Gerdes, and B E Cooper).

[1939]. Another group photograph (same dimensions and mounting) of 22 individuals beside a dining table, many of whom appear in the photograph of August 1939. Verso, in pencil: "W Downing" and the location "Capilla del Senor" [a small city located 90km to the north of Buenos Aires]. The photograph has some foxing.

7 September, 1971. A brief covering note to C L J Wardley, accompanying 8 sepia photographs of earlier date (6 different, 2 duplicates) in the form of postcards. "Lady Cooper found the enclosed cards amongst her brother's belongings and thought they might interest you." The images are all entitled "Berkhamsted Hill" and are exterior views of the Cooper family home.

English with two documents in Russian (both translated into English).

1907-1971

1 file