The Jobbing System of the London Stock Exchange: An Oral History
Ref.No.:  28	Playback No.:

Interviewee's surname: Cobbett	Title: Mr 
Interviewee's forenames: Donald;
Date of birth:   6 September 1911	Sex:  Male

Date(s) of recording:  13 June 1990
Location of interview:  Institute of Historical Research
Name of interviewer:  Bernard Attard
Type of recorder:  Marantz CP 430
Total no. of tapes:      2   Speed:
Type of tape:   TDK AR 60    Noise reduction:   DBX
Mono or stereo:  Stereo      Original or copy:  Copy
Additional material: Copyright/Clearance: No clearance received; revised transcript not received

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS 

Tape 1, Side 1

Birth in 1911; family background; education; uncle briefly employed by a jobbing firm; himself goes onto the Stock Exchange in 1933; how obtains job; general attitude to the Stock Exchange; early interest in the Stock Exchange; joins a jobbing firm called Fergusson & Bousfield; description of the firm, the markets it was in and the type of business it did; functions of the small jobber; the number of jobbers; the main jobbers in the industrial market; Fergusson's offices; goes onto the floor as a blue button wearing the wrong type of suit; Fergusson's pitch; other jobbing firms close to Fergusson's pitch; brokers who Fergusson dealt with; prices do not move a lot; effects of the depression; blue buttons need to supplement their income; Donald Cobbett starts writing for the Financial World; joins a broking firm, which is hammered; questionable nature of the firm's business and the reason for its failure; joins a succession of broking firms; becomes a member in 1947; pursues a journalistic career while also broking; disenchantment with the Stock Exchange; difference between jobbers and brokers.

Tape 1, side 2

Historical origins of the Stock Exchange and the jobbing system; foreigners who enter the Stock Exchange during the Kaffir and subsequent booms; mining boom of the 1930s; operation of the shops controlled by Meyerstein and Latilla; description of the role of the 'pet1 jobbers in the operations of the shops; impact of the demolition of the old Stock Exchange; more on the operations of the shops; jobbing 'short' of a stock; impossibility of opposing the trend of a market; firm of industrial jobbers which goes out of business because caught short of stock [BA: probably Kitchin Baker Shaw]; how jobbers adjust to the price trend; 12 jobbers in the greyhound market; relationship between journalist and jobber; type of information supplied by the jobber; tipsters; scandal associated with tipping at the end of the War; post-war conditions in the Stock Exchange; jobbers still go into booming markets; amalgamations of Stock Exchange firms; impact of institutions and the need for capital; business done outside the Stock Exchange; outside brokers; arbitrage; little change in the jobbing system.

Tape 2, side 1

Impact of the new mining markets on the jobbing system; Donald Cobbett's contacts with old jobbers; story about how new 19th century extension of the Stock Exchange occupied by mining and other speculative markets; anecdote about the bank which no longer wanted to finance a jobber's position; Stock Exchange characters; honesty and strictness of the Stock Exchange; single capacity did not have any real weaknesses; qualities of a good jobber; Donald Cobbett's career as a journalist; attitude of people in the Stock Exchange to Donald Cobbett; change in Stock Exchange; impact of the demolition of the old House; the Kaffir and rubber booms; retirement from the Stock Exchange.