Catalogue description Board of Trade and successors: Companies Division: Registered Files (COS (P, G and R suffix) Series)

Policy, general and record files of the Companies Department. They mainly relate to applications, made under section 19(1) of the Companies Act 1948 and the equivalent provisions of earlier Acts, for licences to register companies without the word 'Limited' in their title. Applicant companies were non-commercial companies. The provision of section 19 were discontinued in subsequent legislation.

Other files cover chartered companies, life assurance companies, insurance companies, unit trusts, the Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Acts, 1939 and 1958, and the application and amendment of Insurance Companies legislation.

This Companies Division COS series was a single numerical series in which some of the files were given a P, G or R suffix to denote papers on policy decisions, general papers or papers containing background information. The files in this series ostensibly date from 1969 but many contain much older papers enclosed in earlier files in the COS annual series which were subsequently re-registered under new numbers.

For re-registered COS files dating from before 1964 see BT 58

Board of Trade, Commercial Department, 1825-1872

Board of Trade, Companies Department, 1904-1941

Board of Trade, Finance Department, 1867-1945

Board of Trade, Insurance and Companies Department, 1941-1970

Board of Trade, Railway Department, 1851-1919

Department of Trade and Industry, Companies Division, 1983-2007

Department of Trade and Industry, Insurance and Companies Department, 1970-1974

Department of Trade, Industrial Companies Division, 1974-1983

From 1990 Department of Trade and Industry