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Look out, as further down this page, the building
becomes cleaner - and undergoes a few more subtle changes. Our main feature is the visit to Carlisle
by Martins Bank Magazine in 1951, which begins with a look back to the staff
of the Branch in service in the year 1903…
 Carlisle
- now, and then…
 Comparing
the photograph of the staff of Carlisle taken in 1903 with those taken in
1951 one is struck by more than the fashion details. Gone are the side
whiskers and the high collars and it was with a keen sense of disappointment
that one looks at the older photographs and realises that the comparison is
purely a male one. If only they had employed girls in those days what fun we
would have had comparing the fashions of the lady members of the staff in
1903 with those of today. As it is, the fun may be had in years to come by a
generation yet unborn!
 Readers will admit that the photograph
of Mr. Rushforth with his girls is an attractive one. He asks us to make it
clear that they aren't his own girls but he would be very proud of them if
they were! He has three of his own, one in the Bank at Botchergate, one
married to a Scottish bank clerk, and one still at school but determined to
go to Cambridge to study Pure Mathematics, following a brilliant school
career.We had the pleasure of lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Rushforth on the
occasion of our visit on February 5th. Mr. Rushforth, recently a grandfather,
has been at Carlisle since 1933, first as Pro Manager, and as Manager since
1942. Prior to that he served at Barrow where he commenced his career in
1912, Millom, Alston, Kendal, Inspection
Department, Head Office; and Securities Department, Liverpool City Office.
He also had a spell with H.M. Forces in the First World War. He is Chairman
of the Carlisle Centre of the Institute of Bankers and was Treasurer of the
Cumberland Infirmary and Home for Incurables until the State took over. On
the formation of the National Health Service he was appointed Chairman of the
East Cumberland Hospital Management Committee, which controls the administration
and day-to-day management of fourteen separate hospitals in Cumberland and
North Westmorland, having a bed complement of 926. This is an exacting job,
necessitating attendance at many meetings and constant consultation, but Mr.
Rushforth seems tireless and even manages a little golf occasionally.
 S. Rigg is a First World War veteran,
being wounded at Passchendaele. His previous service has been spent at
Skipton, Settle, Botchergate, Penrith and Wigton. He went to Carlisle in
1948. J. E. Russell is a keen
Territorial Army Officer, holding the rank of Captain in the Royal Artillery.
During the war his service took him to Egypt, the Western Desert, Palestine,
Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Austria, France, Germany and Belgium. He went
round the Cape, calling in at South Africa, so he certainly got around. G. P.
Way is a Liverpool man who went to Carlisle last year. He was in the Dunkirk
retreat and later in the Second Front with the R.A.S.C., finishing up at
Hamburg. J. S. Ritchie is really a Head Office Relief man who moves about the
district. He has spent most of his time since 1946 at Carlisle. W. J. Hutton
is one of those lucky young men who was sent to America under the Empire Air
Training Scheme but training was called off at the end of hostilities just
before he could get his wings.
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He has to assist him at the branch
Mr. T. H. London as Assistant Manager and Mr. S. E. Blacklock as Pro
Manager. Mr. London became Pro Manager in 1935 and Assistant Manager last
year. Mr. Black-lock was appointed in 1946.
G. H. Hetherington commenced his service at Carlisle in 1917 and
after First World War service with the 5th Manchester Regiment and a spell
at Longtown and Penrith returned to Carlisle in 1924. J. A. P. Johnstone entered the Bank at
Water Street in 1924 and after a spell at New Brighton went north in 1926,
serving at Kendal, Carlisle, Longtown and Carlisle again since 1942. E. M.
Thompson spent the first ten years of his service at Kirkby Stephen, going
to Carlisle in 1932. During the war he served first with the R.A.O.C. and
then with Intelligence in India. G. F. H. Forsyth is another R.A.O.C. man.
He commenced his career at Kirkby Lonsdale in 1920.
After
ten years at Alston he went to Carlisle in 1935.All his bank service has
been at Carlisle. A. E. Whiteside is the Junior. He is trying to take the first
part of his Institute of Bankers' examinations before his call-up this
June. We had met one or two of the girls at the Northern Dinner. There was
Miss J. E. Jopson who waited a whole year to reply to Mr. T. A. Johnson's
“Humbugs” speech, which she did most effectively at the 1950 dinner. Then
there was Miss E. M. Todhunter whose singing has entertained us at the
Northern Dinner for three successive years. Miss V. Matthews was called up
for National Service in 1944 but came back eighteen months later. Miss M.
Edgar entered the service at Longtown in 1944, going to Carlisle in 1949.
Miss M. J. G. Wake entered the Bank in 1943 at Carlisle: she is known to
some of us in Liverpool, having been on a machine course there. Miss O. Railton entered the Bank in 1944
at Botchergate and has been at Carlisle since 1948.
Carlisle
is an interesting town and the interest begins from the moment one leaves
the station dominated by the red sandstone citadel. The Roman wall passes near here and
fragments may still be seen in Carlisle itself, a recognisable specimen
being visible a short distance from Mr. Rushforth's home. There is a
cathedral six centuries old and in numerous indefinable ways the town has
all the air of a frontier post, which indeed it is.As a great railway
centre its station has a thrill for the least imaginative person. Long
distance trains with famous names draw alongside its platforms and there is
a cosmopolitan flavour and an air of busyness quite out of proportion to
the size of the place. Carlisle was important in the days of the Picts and
Scots, and though the Picts may have gone the Scots are still there, which
is a sufficient reason for its continuing importance!
Thoroughly Modern Branch…
 Carlisle Branch also features in
another of Martins Bank’s publications. A major, and useful source of
colour images of Martins Branches, is the Annual Report and Accounts.
Between the late 1950s and early 1960s, several issues of this financial
publication feature a selection of colour images, designed to show the Bank
at its modernising best.
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Branch Images ©
Barclays Ref 0030-0563
“The Bank is
modernising many of its older Branches and the interior of
Carlisle Branch is
shown here after recent renovations”.
Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections
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The
drive in branch, and the futuristic Pegasus computer are also given the
colour treatment. In the report for 1961, is this precious (and only)
colour internal image of Martins Bank’s newly refurbished Branch at 33
English Street:
Student Banking…
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In the Autumn of 1965, Martins Bank places
advertising within Universities and Colleges where the Bank does not have
its own outlet, in the hope of attracting custom to a nearby Branch. The
availability of Student banking at 33 English Street Carlisle is marketed
by this strapline at the bottom of a university information board.
There is much more information about the Bank’s
services for students on our STUDENT BANKING page,
and an in depth look at the advertising of the period in the 1960s section
of our feature on Martins’ Advertising.
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