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Martins Bank’s South Western  District will not be created until around 1960, but
well before that, the Bank has established a number of key branches, and
scattered them throughout the South West of England. Bath opens in 1937 and is placed to begin
with into Midland District.
The arrival of Martins Bank’s Branch in the City of Bath is
heralded by the newspaper advertisement featured below (right), in the Bath
Weekly Chronicle of 13 November 1937. Television is in its infancy, and there
is no radio advertising, so newspapers and magazines are used by most banks
to advertise their products or branch locations. Martins Bank Magazine also
got in on the act when a new branch opened, dispatching staff with notepad
and pen at the ready.
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In Service: 8 November 1937 until 13 May 1977
Branch Images © Barclays
Ref 30/124
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In the following feature entitled “Outposts”, printed in its Autumn 1949 issue, Martins
Bank Magazine to the south west to seek out those members of the Bank’s Staff
who have established Branches of the Bank in places such as Bristol, Taunton,
Torquay, Exeter, Plymouth and, of course, Bath. With a Head Office in
Liverpool, Branches in the far South West can indeed be thought of as
outposts…
 We
went by road to Bath, a
pleasant run through beautiful country, and made our way to Milsom Street via
Comfortable Place and Quiet Street. Although the latter name is not quite
applicable, we are sure our friends at Bath will not misunderstand us when we
say that the former is certainly apt, for Bath is a beautiful place in which
to have to work, and the photograph does not belie the impression we received
that Mr. Haighton heads a very happy family, and a very good team, too.
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Image ©
Northcliffe Media Limited.
Image
created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
Image reproduced with kind permission of
The
British Newspaper Archive
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  Mr.
Haighton himself is a bit of a cosmopolitan.
He entered the bank in the Craven District in 1924 and has seen
service in both the Leeds and the London Districts before going to the Midland District as Manager of Bath in 1946. He is one of
the chosen few to have attended the Staff Administrative College at Henley
and has entered into the life of Bath with great zest. Outside banking and
domestic interests his first love is the Territorials. After serving
throughout the last war he is now Commanding Officer of the 255 Medium
Regiment R A (W.S.Y.), T.A. J. H. Owen is his second man. He started his career in the London District in 1930 and after service
at various branches there went to Bath in 1940. R. C. Wilkins is a North-Easterner who
started at Newcastle in 1931, going south in 1937. whence he returned in 1945
after service throughout the war. The remainder of the staff are
“locals”. A. J. A. James entered the
service at Clifton in 1941 and after war service, followed by a spell on Head
Office Relief Staff, Went to Bath in 1948. B.
H. Crossey started at Bath in 1947. Miss Ryall
has been at Bath since 1943; Miss Silcox since 1946 and Miss Curtis since
1947. We are sorry to say that Miss
Silcox has now left us; but her place has been taken by Miss P. M. Turner.
Sadly for us, Martins Bank Magazine does not at this early stage in its existence,
publish the names of the staff who feature in group photos, save for the
occasional mention of which one of them is Manager!
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