"Seller of investments"

[sharmar]

Hi all


My gggrandfather is listed on his sons birth certificate as a "seller of investments" and on census's as a "broker". 

What I would like to know is, were there any type of group or establishment that you had to be a member of and would they keep records?

The time period i'm looking at is 1860-1900's.

"Seller of investments" conjures up all sorts!!!

Many thanks

Sharmar

[Necromancer]

London - City area ?

[sharmar]

Hiya

No, sorry Shropshire!

Sharmar

[cheshiremog]

Dear Sharmar
I wonder if he operated from a trading address - if so you may find him in the trade directories - sometimes you pick up more prominent private individuals in the householders section of the same.  He would have wanted to advertise I imagine.

http://www.historicaldirectories.org/


Also try googling on 'stock broker' for that time period.

[sharmar]

Hi

Thanks for the link, he's listed as a shopkeeper in 1870 and a general dealer in 1895. 

I did find that his father also had a shop on the same road and he is listed as a grocer although they could have possibly been working out of the same shop?

Sharmar

[cheshiremog]

But no clues to the 'seller of investments'

Could it have been 'seller of something else ??'

Like 'seller of ingredients' or something

but you did say he was listed as a broker as well
so that is odd

[behindthefrogs]

I don't find the idea of a seller of investments or a broker at all strange in the latter half of the 19th century.  A lot of people with a little bit of money were persuaded to invest their savings in company stock and other investments.  Unfortunately these were often foreign gold mining companies and similar doubtful investments.

The returns of savings in the bank were very low and so the temptation to find something giving a better return was very high.  The problem was that people invested all their savings in one company and so frequently lost their savings rather than making a killing.

Selling stocks and shares could easily start off as a sideline for the local shop keeper and unlike many of the shares themselves was probably a profitable exercise.

David

[sharmar]

David

Thank you for that info, he must have made some money because he was rumoured to own at least 50 properties (I do know for certain of 25)!!!

cheshiremog

The certificate clearly states sell of investments so I don't think it could be anything else.

I will keep looking!!!!

Sharmar