| AdminHistory | The earliest provincial stock exchanges were the Liverpool and Manchester ones, set up in 1836; the Sheffield Exchange, in common with those formed in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle and Nottingham between 1844 and 1846 was established when the railway mania was at its height and there was a great increase in stockbroking opportunities.
This is illustrated by the list of companies quoted in the earliest surviving printed share list in the collection, for 10 Feb 1846, in which 100 of the 111 companies quoted are railway companies (28 old lines, 24 lines in progress and 48 new lines), the remaining stock all being in local institutions, such as banks, the gas, cutlery, canal and water companies, the Sheffield Fire Office.
Although the crisis of 1847 saw the demise of the exchanges in Hull, Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford and Nottingham, the Sheffield exchange survived and gradually strengthened its position as the range of shares dealt became much wider. In 1859 railway companies still predominated but included foreign lines, and Derbyshire mining and lead companies also listed.
By 1875 the range of stocks quoted included those from companies as diverse as the Moscow-Jaroslaw railway, colonial government securities and the Grimsby and the Mauritius Gas Companies, while the list also contains water, wagon and insurance companies, coal and iron and manufacturing companies (the latter mainly local) and miscellaneous stocks such as Hudson's Bay, Crystal Palace and Sheffield Botanical Gardens.
Mr S. Mather began work with John Watson and Sons but in 1921 he set up his own firm of S. Mather and Son, stock and sharebrokers of Leopold Street, Sheffield, taking his son into partnership. He retired in 1936 and died in 1940. Mr William Mather continued the business until 1941 when he amalgamated with the firm of Hardy, Lawton & Co., taking over Smith, Holmes and Judge in 1962, and Hart, Moss & Co. in 1963. In 1967 he became a partner in J.W. Nicholson and Sons, finally retiring in 1974. Mr Sam Mather was Chairman of the Sheffield Stock Exchange in 1898, 1909 and 1913 and Mr William Mather was Chairman in 1938 and subsequently for nine other years up to 1966. |