The ultimate business network: Chambers of Commerce
Robert Bennett, Professor of Geography at Cambridge University
(www.geog.cam.ac.uk/people/bennett) writes about
the archives of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce
(ABCC) from 1860, and also the records of one of its largest
members, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1882
(CLC/B/016 and CLC/B/150).
Prime Minister Asquith referred to the Chambers of Commerce in 1914
as ‘the most authoritative and trustworthy exponent of the
commercial interests in the UK’. As a result their archives,
with those of the London Chamber, contain some important and unique
insights into political and business history. The ABCC
records include not only national political campaigns, but also
much detail of the activities of 50-120 member Chambers across the
UK and Ireland up to 1922. The London Chamber records include
member books for the whole period 1910-71, covering not only
companies, but also numerous individuals. Among the 49,649
lapsed members are ca. 3000 deaths, 1500 retirements, 9000
bankruptcies and closures, and 1000 who ‘moved away’.
The first large scale modern study covering the ABCC and the
local Chambers has just been published (Bennett, R. J., 2011, Local
Business Voice: The history of chambers of commerce in Britain,
Ireland and Revolutionary America, 1760-2011, Oxford University
Press). This gives detailed coverage of the LMA holdings, and
also guides readers to sources in over 150 other local record
offices. Beginning in 1767 in Jersey, the local Chambers had
spread to 19 areas across Britain and Ireland by 1820. They
were complemented by a similar network in the United States,
Canada, and Jamaica, with which liaison was maintained even during
the American rebellion between 1775 and 1783.
The establishment of the ABCC coincided with the rapid growth in
number of local Chambers of Commerce, reaching about 105 by
1920. From the 1890s they were supplemented by another
network of smaller bodies, usually called Chambers of Trade, which
grew more numerous, reaching about 800 by the 1960s. The
records of the National Chamber of Trade, which merged with the
ABCC in 1992, are also at LMA (CLC/B/016-2).
As shown in the new study, the LMA archives exhibit the tensions
between the local Chambers and the ABCC. Not all Chambers
joined. Liverpool Chamber was a founding member, but withdrew in
1861 over who should speak directly to government ministers – the
local Chambers or the ABCC. Most other major Chambers did not
join until 1900. The archives show ructions and restructuring every
few years, adjusting the voting rights and subscription levels
between the small and large Chambers, and attempting to impose some
order and standards on the system. This continued into the
1960s, where the LMA records show the first steps to establish the
modern system of inspection and accreditation, which produced
invaluable archives on local Chamber activities.
The ABCC archives are especially valuable for their coverage of
lobbying. From its outset the Association sought reforms in
banking and bankruptcy laws, improved social welfare legislation,
and restraints on public expenditure (what’s new!). Sampson
Lloyd, banker from Lloyds Bank, was president for 16 of the first
20 years. As a Conservative MP, and local councillor with a
history of restraining the rates in Birmingham, he increasingly
came into conflict with the mainly Liberal members of the ABCC
Board. The records also cover the major debates over free
trade and tariffs from 1880 to 1932. Opposition to municipal
enterprise, after the foundation of the London County Council (LCC)
in 1888, led to a clash between the different views of the ABCC
(representing local Chambers that generally supported local
government) and the London Chamber (that was alarmed by the ‘rads’
and ‘fabs’ of the LCC); this can be traced in both LMA
holdings.
In more modern times there is detailed coverage of ABCC help to
government in management of production and distribution in WW1 and
WW2, opposition to nationalisation, participation in many
government advisory committees, and cooperation with government
training schemes and small business policy from the 1970s.
The archives also hold many minute books for specialist ABCC
committees on railway rates, transport, industrial sectors,
education, etc., which offer detailed insights into political
campaigns.
The London Chamber was late into the fray; its establishment in
1882 made it about the 70th in the UK. As commented by the
City’s Lord Chamberlain in 1867, it was ‘a matter of notoriety that
every third-rate town in the kingdom had a chamber but not
London.’ It soon made up for lost time. After only 5
years its membership became the largest in the country. It
became very innovative in services, with its archives giving
detailed information on its commercial arbitration service,
employment agency, commercial examinations scheme, apprenticeships,
conferences, seminars, commercial documentation services, and much
else. It developed over 30 ‘sections’ for specific industries
or geographical markets: for such varied fields as insurance,
textiles, finance, candles, teak wood, China, and South
America. The sections had their own meetings, committees and
role in the governance of the Chamber. Their minute books are
invaluable sources of statistics and information of specialist
markets.
The London Chamber was never a shrinking violet and began
initiatives to ‘improve’ the national Association as soon as it was
established. It immediately undertook a survey of all the
local Chambers, concluding that ‘their resources were insufficient
to permit them to organise their work. The united expenditure
of the largest towns reaches less than was paid the other day for
Marie Antoinette’s writing-table’. It also produced the first
map of national Chamber coverage in 1882 (in
CLC/B/016/MS14477/001). After these efforts in its founding
year, London immodestly assessed in 1883 that ‘the Association
appears to be entering upon a period of self-improvement’ - after
London’s pressures! As shown in the author’s new study, the
archives at the LMA offer unique insights into the evolution of
national business representation, the local Chambers, and the
tensions between them.
An extensive summary of the book by chapter is available at
http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/chambersofcommerce/
Benchmarking data for 150 chambers from 1790 up to the present
has been deposited in an easily accessible free on-line archive,
with the book giving a guide. A link to the UK Data Archive deposit
is at:
http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/snDescription.asp?sn=6878&key=/&flag=true
You can listen to a Podcast of the seminar on chambers of
commerce held at the British Academy on 15 February 2012 at
http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/2012/Chambers_of_Commerce.cfm