On Fri, 19 Dec 2014 19:01:21 +0000, Ian Goddard <[email protected]> wrote: >On 19/12/14 09:57, Mick IOW wrote: >> Hi all, How can I trace who ran Stagg Bros. Decorators Merchants 20 >> Carisbrooke Rd, Newport, Isle of Wight in the 1950s/1960s > >A family business may well have been a partnership but if they were a >limited company Companies House should have the company returns listing >the directors. > Older records of defunct companies are only kept as a partial sample but IIRC basic details (name, date dissolved and similar) exist in unpublished index form (i.e, you need to write in and ask). The London Gazette contains various statutory notices concerning dissolution and winding up of companies, partnerships etc. If dates are uncertain you can follow a business's telephone directory entries via Ancestry up to 1984; this can also help if an address has changed during the business's existence.