of the
Listed by N James, October 1990
Historical Manuscripts Commission,
Quality House. Quality Court, Chancery Lane,
London WC2A 1HP
The minute books described in the following report are kept at the offices of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Access is by appointment with the Manager, Information Services. to whom all enquiries should be addressed.
Records of the Birmingham Chamber suffered considerable loss and damage during the Second World War. A sequence of Council minutes, 1813 to 1947, has been reconstructed, with some gaps, by taking surviving minutes from different series. Thus the minute book for 1861-65 appears to consist of draft minutes only. Relevant correspondence, considered at Council meetings, was copied into the minute books afterwards. Correspondence from before the Second World War is not thought to have survived. Many volumes of early Council minutes also contain the minutes of sub-committees.
The following volumes of minutes were noted during a brief visit to the Birmingham Chamber on 9 October 1990. They are kept in an open-plan office area on the first floor. Further information about the early history of the Chamber can also be found in GH Wright, Chronicles of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce A.D. 1813-1913…, 1913, and in the Chamber’s own Journal.
Council minute books: 1st series
Minute books August 1813-1831, 1861-1912, reconstructed from several early manuscript series (16 volumes, all rebound):
1813-31
1861-65
1865-68
1866-72
1868-72
1875-80
1880-83
1886-88
1888-91
1892-95
1894-97
1897-99
1899-1901
1901-03
1903-04
1909-12
Council minute books: 2nd series
Minute books 1905-1947 (5 volumes. in original bindings):
No 15 1905-07 (manuscript)
No 16 1907-09 (manuscript)
No 18 1912-16 (manuscript)
No 23 1932-35 (typescript)
No 25 April 1940-1947 (typescript)
A complete set of post-war minutes of the Council and its committees is available, but most volumes for the 1950s and 1960s are kept in the basement store and were not inspected.
Minute book 1813-30
Overseas trade policy committee
Minutes from 1934 (3 volumes only inspected)
Minute book 1934-55 (typescript)
Post-1955 GPC minutes are bound up with Council minutes.