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 We are
grateful to Friend of the Archive Gavin Hunter for tracking down this
wonderful (albeit slightly
photo-shopped) image of Martins Bank’s Dacre Hill sub-Branch, and for
obtaining permission for us to use it on this page. The Wirral peninsula comes to a head at Birkenhead and Wallasey, and this is where Branches of Martins Bank can be
found at every twist and turn – At Birkenhead there is Hamilton Square, Borough Road, Charing Cross, Claughton Village,
Dacre Hill, Higher Tranmere, Park, Prenton, Rock Ferry, Upton, and Woodside
Lairage.
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In Service:
1930 until June 1942
Image © The William
Champion Magazine
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Add to this a further seven Branches at Wallasey, and many
more stretching back down the peninsula to Ellesmere Port, and you will see
Martins Bank’s dominance of this area.
Martins’ sub-Branch at Dacre Hill is really quite
short lived, being opened in 1930 and mothballed in 1942 but not reopened
after the Second World War.
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 Branches
of the Bank have been opened (or will shortly be opened) in London (213,
Baker Street, N.W.1, 32, Lowndes Street, S.E.1, and 27/29, Tothill Street,
S.W.1.); Rock
Ferry (Dacre Hill); Nottingham and Redcar; and Sub Branches have been
opened at Barrow-in-Furness (Rawlinson Street) (Sub to Barrow-in-Furness) ;
Liverpool (Springwood, Mather Avenue) (Sub to Garston) ; and Southampton
Docks (Sub to Southampton). Premises for new Branches have been acquired at
Liverpool (Anfield); Eastham, Cheshire; Gateshead (High Street); and
Middlesbrough (Newport Road).
Extract
from Martins Bank’s Annual Report for 1930 © Barclays
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Liverpool Journal of Commerce 11 December 1930
Successor
Rights Unknown - Image Courtesy of British Newspaper Archive
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As a result of the terrible staff shortages caused by the
War, many of the Bank’s Branches are mothballed for the duration.
Unfortunately a significant number are not re-opened, and Dacre Hill is
amongst them, shutting for good in 1942
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Image
© BT 1931
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If you can help with details, memories or images of this
or any of Martins Bank’s one thousand plus other Branch and sub branch
buildings, then please do get in touch with us by clicking HERE.
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A Birkenhead Empire…
With the sea on three sides,
the Wirral Peninsula is home to some of Cheshire’s most exclusive
addresses, and it seems that the 1930s are the heyday for the presence of
Martins Bank Here. In addition to
the many Wirral Peninsula Branches mentioned above, Birkenhead has no less
than TWELVE Branches all open at the time of this extract from Martins
Bank’s 1932 Annual Report:
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Image
© Barclays 1932
We would be surprised if
there were as many cash machines
as that in Birkenhead nowadays, let alone Branches of one particular Bank!
Incidentally, George Ball, listed as Manager of Birkenhead 50 Hamilton
square above, becomes what Martins Bank Magazine will come to refer to as a
“pioneer” when he moves South to open the first of Martins Bank’s
Birmingham Branches in 1935/6.
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