| AdminHistory | The Cadbury Trusts' collection is broadly divided between operational records and administrative records. The operational heading relates almost exclusively to grant files generated by the various grant making organisations that constitute the Cadbury Trusts, namely the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust, the Paul S. Cadbury Trust, the Southfield Trust, the Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd. and the Barrow Cadbury Trust. The administrative heading covers all records generated to manage the trusts and to enable their charitable activities.
Administrative records cover an array of subjects ranging from finance and governance to property and employment. Within the Cadbury Trusts' administrative records were generated at two levels, 1) joint records that relate to multiple organisations within the Cadbury Trusts, and 2) organisational records that relate to a specific organisation. The existence of extensive joint organisational records is unusual and reflects the interrelated nature of the eight technically autonomous trusts and companies that make up the Cadbury Trusts collection.
The governance of the Cadbury Trusts has traditionally been the responsibility of the descendants of Barrow and Geraldine Cadbury through their son Paul. When the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust was established in 1920 Barrow and Geraldine were its sole trustees and remained so until 1934. Similarly, Paul and Rachel Cadbury were the sole trustees of the Paul S. Cadbury Trust from its formation in 1931 until 1935. Following Barrow's death in 1958 the integration of Cadbury Trusts' governance accelerated as Paul assumed control of the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust and the allied Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd. while maintaining his role as Chairman of the Paul S. Cadbury Trust. By 1959 Paul and Rachel's children Catherine Hickinbotham and Philippa Southall were serving as trustees/directors in all three organisations. Within ten years they were joined by their brothers Edward and Charles Cadbury.
The tendency of Cadbury family members to hold overlapping responsibilities across organisations reached a new height in 1973 when, to give an example, Catherine Hickinbotham served as a trustee for the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust, the Paul S. Cadbury Trust, the Southfield Trust and the Worgan Trust and as a director of the Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd. and Chapmans Hill School Farm Ltd. Similarly, Cadbury Trusts' administrators Anthony Wilson, Eric Adams, Joe Montgomery and Dipali Chandra held joint responsibilities across organisations. Some organisational distinctions were made for clerical staff. These individuals would typically be assigned to provide secretarial support for a particular organisation or group of organisations within the Cadbury Trusts.
Such interrelated governance and administration naturally led to the creation of joint organisational records to avoid the unnecessary duplication of work. Annual reports, monthly reviews, staff records and some meeting minutes all fall under the joint records heading. With the closure of the Southfield Trust, the merger of the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust with the Paul S. Cadbury Trust and the separation of the Worgan Trust and Chapmans Hill School Farm Ltd. from the current Cadbury Trusts operations, the tendency towards joint record creation has declined since 1994.
The constituent organisations of the Cadbury Trusts also generated their own distinct institutional records. As with most businesses and charities, these records were created to fulfil a particular legal or business requirement varying from the appointment of new trustees to demonstrating property ownership and regulatory compliance. Among the organisation specific records encountered in the Cadbury Trusts' collection are deeds, financial reports and accounts, Charity Commission orders and schemes, memoranda and articles of association, annuitant records and most minute sequences. To this heading may also be added publications, correspondence and consultancy agreements.
It is not always possible to draw a clear distinction between administrative and operational records. For example, prior to 1969, subscriptions, annuities and donations were recorded in the minutes and accounts of individual trusts or the Fund alongside other organisational business. The shift from this traditional pattern of giving to grant making resulted in the extensive documentation of grantee-Cadbury Trusts relations through purpose generated grant files. This new class of purely operational records exists as a separate sub-collection (MS 1579/2) within the overall collection.
Strategic and collaborative correspondence between the Cadbury Trusts and other charitable funders resulted in another area of overlap between administrative and operational functions. While the preponderance of these files were created for the purpose of information sharing a small number involved grants and could therefore arguably be assigned to either category. The decision on where to place these files in the cataloguing structure was taken by the archivist on a case by case basis. |