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Cape of Good Hope: Factory Records Volume 6 : Correspondence 1795-1803

Published
Marlborough, Wiltshire : Adam Matthew Digital, 2019.
Physical Description
1 online resource
Additional Creators
Adam Matthew Digital (Firm)
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Summary
Description: IOR/G/9: Factory Records: Cape of Good Hope, 1773-1836.The Cape of Good Hope series does not follow the pattern, form or character of other Factory Records series. It chiefly consists of letters from the agents to the East India Company and copies of the agents' own correspondence.The existing agency correspondence in IOR/G/9, the court minutes in IOR/B and the accountant general's correspondence in IOR/L/AG/29/1/14 indicate that the agents wrote a fairly regular quarterly 'packet' of letters to the Company's secretary in London. These letters reported the ordinary business transacted at the Cape on behalf of the Company in the previous months. If necessary, special separate letters on particular subjects were sent to the Company between packets. Duplicates and triplicates of some letters and packets are to be found in the same or different volumes.The volumes and additional papers also include a number of letters addressed to the Secret Committee which display secrecy markings, particularly on the subjects of shipping and intelligence. It is unusual to find secret letters of this period amongst general correspondence, as they would normally have been placed in the Political and Secret sub-fonds IOR/L/PS. The agent also sent quarterly and annual copies of the agency's accounts to London. Some agency accounting records - a cashbook, wastebook, ledger and journal - are in G/9/2-5. Others were copied into the Company's main books of account and the originals destroyed. Again, unlike other Factory Records, there are no consultations (or proceedings) for the Cape of Good Hope agency, in either IOR/G/9 or in the related Proceedings sub-fonds IOR/P, because the Cape agency had no council in the manner of other East India Company factories or settlements. However, there are two documents called 'diaries of transactions' at the agency (1808-09) in G/9/9, which may be the remnants of the 'day-books' that the agents were directed to keep. These documents are probably the closest relations to the 'diaries' in other Factory Records series.This is a truncated version of the full sub-class description for this record. For the full description, please see Margaret Makepeace and Antonia Moon's essay by clicking on the 'More information' link in the Class Description field above.
Other Subject(s)
Note
IOR/G: East India Company Factory Records (1608-1858). A 'factory' was a trading post where a number of merchants, or factors, resided. When company ships arrived at the factories, ships' merchants were thus enabled to exchange goods for trading immediately instead of having to wait to make deals with local merchants. Factories were run by a chief factor and a council of factors. The 'Factory Records' is an artificially created sub-fonds; the records of individual Company factories consist mainly of consultations (records of administrative decisions and of correspondence), diaries (records of daily activities), letters received, copies of letters sent and collections of papers on particular subjects.;Secret letters from the agent at the Cape of Good Hope to the EIC court of directors, secret committee of the court of directors and secretary.
AMDigital Reference: IOR/G/9/6.
Original Version
Reproduction of: Cape of Good Hope: Factory Records Volume 6 1795-1803.
Location of Originals
The British Library
Copyright Note
The British Library Board
View MARC record | catkey: 25805414