Although up to 1910-1911 it was office practice to file all letters sent out from the Private Office in purely chronological order, letters received into the office were apparently separated into Butterfield & Swire and other correspondents for filing. The letters from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Offices were usually kept in separate bundles and were not usually bound but filed and then boxed. They include both official correspondence from Butterfield & Swire to John Swire & Sons and private letters from the heads of the Hong Kong and Shanghai offices to `The Senior'. Unofficial correspondence was not in fact encouraged and it is predominantly the Eastern Partners, Lang, Scott and Mackintosh who write personally to John S Swire; after their retirement from the East they were replaced by Eastern Managers (Bois, Wright and Mackay in Shanghai and Smith, Prate, Law, Robertson and Edkins in Hong Kong) who tended to use official correspondence.
John Swire and Sons Letters In: From Butterfield & Swire
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- ReferenceGB 102 JSS/1/2
- Alternative Id.GB 102 JSSI 2
- Dates of Creation1877-1956
- Language of MaterialEnglish
- Physical Description32 boxes
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Arrangement The series of files has been arranged according to the B&S office from which it originated:Hong Kong (1877-1916) JSSI 2/1-14.Shanghai (1872-1916) JSSI 2/15-25.
Access Information
Open
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Paper handlist available
Archivist's Note
Catalogued
Conditions Governing Use
Copying for personal research purposes is permitted. Please contact the archivist for all publication requests.
Copyright is owned by John Swire & Sons, Ltd, 59 Buckingham Gate, London, SW1E 6AJ