Finance

Various financial files, including some early cheque books and bank books, and a range of ledgers, deriving from Burroughs Wellcome & Co, and The Wellcome Foundation Ltd, with some material from S M Burroughs & Co, and from the Kepler Malt Extract Co Ltd. One of the early chequebooks (WF/F/005) contains the first signature of "Burroughs Wellcome & Co" in the hand of Henry Wellcome (5 October, 1880).

An extensive ledger (WF/F/087) provides balance sheets (liabilities/assets), spanning 31 August 1880 to 31 August 1939.

Also included are accounts and sales figures for subsidiary overseas houses for 1950-1962 (WF/F/110-118), and Wellcome Foundation Ltd Capital Accounts (WF/F/070-078) for 1940-1948.

The files include some advertsing registers (1954-1958) with examples of advertisements placed in publications overseas, indicating place of publication and amounts spent. Also, extensive sets of purchase record cards maintained over the period 1907-1971.

1879-1989

39 boxes, plus 27 oversize boxes/items

Please see main WF collection description (ref. 'WF').

Much financial material was lost in the destruction of the firms's premises at Snow Hill in 1941, but much was also not retained, as the following published remarks indicate: "Following the visit of Mr Moore and Mr Matthews to the Works Record Store at Dartford for the purpose of surveying old account books, journals, sales record sheets, etc. a considerable amount of paper has been released for salvage. By the end of April alone we had sold approximately 13.5 tons of paper which was disposed of for £70!" Foundation News (September 1942).