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Auction: 21141 - Bonds and Share Certificates of the World e-Auction
Lot: 370

Great Britain: York Buildings Water Works, £100 'stock share', 1813, #1491, black printing, on vellum, 4 pages, much text, signed by Sir William Kaye and the company secretary. The company worked under a lease from the Governor and Company of Undertakers for raising the Thames Water in York Buildings. The phrase 'stock share' and the convoluted wording of the document may well have been to avoid provisions of the 1720 Bubble Act which was not revoked until 1825. The York Buildings Company was incorporated in 1691 to establish water works in the Strand but it was not profitable. In 1719 it was acquired by Case Billingsley who used its Charter powers to purchase Scottish estates confiscated from the Jacobites after the 1715 revolution and also Scottish coal and lead mines. For a short time it was the largest landowner in Scotland! From 1746 it leased out the Water Works and it would seem that this company, formed in 1810 took over the lease. In 1812 they advertised new iron pipes to replace the wooden ones and also a powerful new steam engine. In 1813 they raised new capital for the building of a new reservoir. Not profitable however and by 1818 the works had been sold to the New River Company. Sir William Kaye was a prominent banker. The London Metropolitan archive has a similar certificate but we have been unable to trace another example. The wax seal has broken in the centre otherwise VF and rare. [R11]

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Estimate
£160 to £180

Starting price
£130