Financial Records

The Company’s financial records are contained in the Wardens’ Accounts and Court Minutes from 1334, excepting the period from 1579-1592.  The date of the earliest separate yearly account book of the Wardens was 1687 and the last of three volumes ended in 1712.  Cash books began in 1689 and, supplemented by ledgers from 1729, continued to 1941.  Three charity account books ran from 1681 to 1729.

The (Standing) committee, which was set up in 1712 to monitor and to approve expenditure, has its own books of record from 1712 until 1943.  Other accounting records survive for some of the individual charities, the Company’s entertainments and the Company’s barge house, for example.

Content

Payments in and out of the Company’s accounts are recorded in the minutes as well as a series of ledgers called cash books, ledgers and journals.  There are also volumes which indicate the financial status of individual funds, for example the charities.  There is usually an integral relationship between the decision of the Court to grant or expend money and the payment of that sum.  Regular payments of sums of money to the cook, the plumber, the labourer, the stationer etc supplement the narrative of the minutes and form a picture of the minutiae of the Company’s life.

How can I find information in these records?

Payments are usually tied into the narrative of the minutes and are authorised by being recording in the minutes.  Therefore the minutes are the first source for accessing these financial records.  Trailing through the records for a particular payment without any minute reference is more time-consuming and is less likely to ensure a successful outcome.  The date of the minute which records a payment would be the starting point for searching to find the financial record.