Great Eastern Hotel (1 results)

No Binding. Condition: Very Good. A very rare WW1 era share certificate for one of the British Raj's most famous grand old hotels. Single leaf 297x272mm, printed to both sides with perforated edge. Good, tanned, centre-folded and two-hole punched with partial impact on text, and some small perforations. The recto is headed with The Great Eastern Hotel's name, and its beehive logo ("Labor Omnia Vincit") which is also blind stamped. Stating an issued and paid up authorised capital of 12,00,000 Rupees in 12,000 Shares of 100 Rupees each, this certifies that Harry Barker Norton Esq holds 10 Shares numbered 495-504 as of 2 October 1915. It is signed by the Secretary and two Directors (the latter partially identifiable as "Gordon" and "Mookerjee"). The verso contains 10 share transfer forms, two of which completed with ms entries dated 20 March 1924 to L.W. Harry Esq signed by the General Manager, and 14 December 1938 to Horendro Kristo Dutt Esq signed by the Director and Honorary Secretary. The establishment had been opened by the confectioner "Dainty" David Wilson in 1840 as the Auckland, or Wilson's, Hotel. Its name changed to the Great Eastern Hotel Wine and General Purveying Company in the 1860s when his family sold up. This Certificate was issued in the year the Hotel's name was shortened to The Great Eastern Hotel, under the direction of lawyer and publisher Shirley Tremearne. The London Gazette records Harry Barker Norton (d1945) as being appointed a Second Lieutenant and Temporary Captain in the Infantry Branch of the Indian Army Reserve of Officers in April 1917. He served with the 23rd (United Provinces) Labour Company, and was subsequently credited with funding the first clock in Bournemouth's Town Centre and various local hospitals and charities. Contemporary records name Dutt as a member of the Calcutta Stock Exchange, after whom the Royal Calcutta Turf Club's Horendro Kristo Dutt Memorial Cup is named. (References: London Gazette 3 July 1917: 6552 and 24 July 1917: 7487; MilitariaMart website; Bournemouth Library; Calcutta Stock Exchange Official Yearbook 1937).…