150 years of company registration in Scotland

150 years ago this month, on 23 August 1856, the first company registration took place in Scotland under the Joint Stock Companies Act of 1856. The Daily Bulletin Company Ltd was established in Glasgow to publish two newspapers: 'The Daily Bulletin' and 'The Workman'.

The National Archives of Scotland (NAS) holds over one mile of records of Scottish dissolved companies, and from the Daily Bulletin file we can follow how the company was established. Nominal capital was 2500 pounds sterling, divided into 50 shares of 50 pounds sterling; although all 50 shares were originally allocated, one shareholder's name is scored out and 42 shares were initially taken.

Major shareholders and first directors were Mr Colin Rae Brown, Mr John Macindoe (both Glasgow auctioneers), Mr James Taylor (a Glasgow builder) and Mr John Graham (an accountant from Pollokshields). By the time that the company was dissolved on 25 November 1881 only one of the original directors, Mr Graham, remained on the board. You can consult images of the full file for The Daily Bulletin Company Ltd (NAS ref. BT2/1) in our search rooms.

Registration of companies was introduced to provide the public with a degree of regulatory protection, and now almost all commercial companies are registered. Companies House files are the official, public record of a company's existence and they generally contain memoranda of association, lists of shareholders and directors (including their occupation and address), financial statements and, once the company is dissolved, details of the winding up. Below is shown the memorandum of association for the Daily Bulletin Company Ltd.

Records of Scottish companies are passed to the NAS 20 years after they have been dissolved (wound up), while the records of companies which are still active are retained by Companies House. The oldest of these is company number 53, Cupar Corn Exchange, which was registered on 13 February 1860.

The NAS holds paper files for all Scottish companies dissolved up to the end of 1979. Companies House started microfiching records in 1980, and the NAS holds a complete set of microfiche up to 1985 and selected paper files. Notable names amongst the dissolved company files held by the NAS include Third Lanark AC Football Club (the first major Scottish football club to be declared bankrupt and dissolved) and Nobel's Explosives Company (established to manufacture dynamite and other blasting materials invented by Alfred Nobel).

Cataloguing of Companies House records is ongoing, with almost 10,000 company names now available on the NAS electronic catalogue. If you are interested in a particular company you can search our online catalogue or contact our search room staff at General Register House for further information.

In addition to the official records of dissolved companies, the NAS holds a wealth of company administrative records, created by companies during the course of their business. These include the records of railway companies; manufacturing firms such as the world famous Carron Company, ironfounders, Falkirk; engineering firms such as Blyth and Blyth, Civil Engineers; and shipbuilding firms including John Brown and Co, Clydebank (later part of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders) who constructed liners such as the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth; and the Scott-Lithgow Group (records for these shipbuilding companies are held by Glasgow University Archive Services). For records created by a company during the course of its business, in the first instance you should consult the Scottish Archive Network catalogue to find out if any material survives and where it is held.