I’ve previously explored Delhi’s mills through the lens of business postcards, and also written about the earliest ventures—most notably, the Ganesh Flour Mills. However, here is an actual certificate of shares from the Delhi Cotton Mills Company from the 1890s. The Company started off as the Delhi Cotton and General Mills (https://hiddendelhiblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/as-forms-of-photographic-circulation.html) and was renamed periodically. A prominent Delhiwalla, Lala Sri Ram—known today for his philanthropic legacy and for founding Delhi’s iconic Shri Ram College of Commerce—played a pivotal role in transforming the mills into the largest textile operation in North India. Today, its legacy continues under the name DCM Shriram.What's fascinating is the seal used by the mills in its early days. If you look closely, this is an imprint of the now vanished Clock Tower (Ghanta Ghar), once a landmark of colonial Chandni Chowk and a reminder of the new importance (and discipline) of clock-time. the I haven't come across a seal like this before and so, have cropped this image below:
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