Descriptive Summary
Manning, Robert
MacKintosh, Ewen C.
Manning and MacKintosh Papers
1714-1894
bulk 1824-1883
11 inches
29945694
Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
Financial and legal documents and correspondence of Manning and MacKintosh (and predecessors), a business partnership acting as agents in Mexico of British financial interests.
English, Spanish, French, and Nahua
Biographical and Historical Note
British citizens Robert Manning and William Marshall were sent to Mexico as agents of Barclay and Company in 1824. The Manning and Marshall partnership was formed in that year. Ewen C. MacKintosh joined Manning and Marshall as an agent in 1834, becoming their partner in 1835. Around 1843 Manning and Marshall became Manning and MacKintosh.
MacKintosh was financial manager of the Hospicio de Pobres in Mexico City; he served as British Consul from 1839-1853. Manning and MacKintosh acted as representatives in Mexico of bondholder committees in Britain. They negotiated loans to the Mexican government and provided a variety of financial, commercial and management services to private companies such as Baring Brothers, Lionel Brough, Randell, and Anglo-Mexican Mint. While Consul, MacKintosh profited from involvement in collecting a percentage of customs revenues to pay British holders of Mexican bonds, in renegotiation of the Mexican government's British debt (1846), in negotiation of a peace settlement between the U.S. and Mexico (1847), and in a host of other business enterprises such as currency exchange, management of import-export trade for British firms, investments in mines and tobacco minting, and moneylending.
In alliance with other moneylenders and with the elite in Mexico, Manning and MacKintosh exerted considerable influence on the Mexican economy and prospered greatly from it. In 1850, however, Manning and MacKintosh declared bankruptcy due to failing business conditions. Although MacKintosh continued to live and conduct business in Mexico, his influence was reduced. He died in 1861.
Scope and Contents Note
Correspondence, financial documents, legal documents, literary productions, minutes, and printed materials concerning the business transactions, investments, and charitable concerns of the Manning and MacKintosh firm. Correspondence reflects the problems of conducting business during the war between the United States and Mexico and the views held by businessmen of Mexican politics. Other documents include two relating to Mexican Indian land holdings (one written in Nahuatl); a list of tariffs charged by British consuls in Mexico; instructions respecting the consular administration of the property of British subjects who died intestate; documents concerning the priest Juan Germán; and letters pertaining to the British interest in construction of an interoceanic canal, railroad, or road across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Materials are primarily in Spanish and English; some in French, one item in Nahuatl.
Organization and Arrangement
Organized into series by type of material; further divided
into subseries. Arranged chronologically within folders.
Acquisitions Information
The Manning and Mackintosh Papers form part of the Genaro García Collection, which was purchased by the University of Texas in 1921 from the heirs of Genaro García.
Processing Information
The Manning and MacKintosh Papers were arranged into series by the staff of the Mexican Archives Project, which completed the processing of the collection in January 1994.
Finding aid initially prepared by the Mexican Archives Project, February 5, 1995.
Alternate Form Available
The collection is also available on microfilm.
Preferred Citation
Manning and Mackintosh Papers, 1714-1894, Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
Index Terms
Subjects (Persons/Organizations)
Manning and MacKintosh--Archives.
German, Juan, d. 1860.
Subjects (Geographic)
Mexico--History--1821-1861--Sources.
Mexico--Economic conditions--19th century--Sources.
Mexico--Foreign relations--1821-1861--Sources.
Mexico--Politics and government--1821-1861--Sources.
Mexico--Commerce--Great Britain--History--19th
century--Sources.
Great Britain--Commerce--Mexico--History--19th
century--Sources.
Subjects (Topical)
Trading companies--Mexico--History--19th century--Sources.
Mexican War, 1846-1848--Sources.
Mines and mineral resources--Mexico--History--19th
century--Sources.
Finance--Mexico--History--19th century--Sources.
Foreign trade regulation--Mexico--History--19th
century--Sources.
Other Entries
Manning and MacKintosh
Manning, Robert,
fl. 1824-1850.
MacKintosh, Ewen C., d. 1861.
Marshall, William
Other Finding Aids
The following guide is available in the Benson Latin American Collection Rare Books Reference:
Castañeda, Carlos Eduardo, 1896-1958.
Guide to the Latin American Manuscripts in the University of Texas Library.
Cambridge, Mass. :
Harvard University Press,
1939.
Related Material
García, Genaro, 1867-1920.
Genaro García Collection, 15-- - 1920?,
Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.
Series
1. Series, Correspondence, 1825-1883.
2. Series, Financial documents.
a. Financial documents, 1834-1861.
b. Invoices and receipts, 1825-1858.
c. Bearer notes, sight drafts, etc., 1843-1851.
d. Records of import values and duties, 1825-1843.
e. Financial documents related to the Hospicio de Pobres, 1834-1837.
f. Budget proposals, 1856.
g. Financial documents related to the Mexican branch of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1882.
3. Literary productions
a. Reports, 1825-1857.
b. Instructions, 1834.
c. Documents related to churches and religious matters, 1851.
4. Legal documents
a. Contracts, agreements, etc., 1850-1869.
b. Documents related to Mexican Indian land holdings, 1714-1861.
5. Minutes, 1894.
6. Printed materials, 1826?-1881.