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  Winter 1968 - With the Merger all but complete, Barclays publishes
issue 13 of BARCLAYS BULLETIN,
its newsletter for the Staff of the Barclays Group, which by now includes
the seven thousand men and women who work for Martins Bank. In our main feature on the Merger – BEGINNING
OF THE END – we look at the process that wipes Martins Bank from memory within a
very short space of time, but here we concentrate on a special article
written for Barclays Staff, to introduce them to the history of our Bank.
“The Martins Bank Story” is penned by our own Geoffrey Kelly, who at the
end of 1967 was promoted to Assistant Manager, Publicity Department, and
who has an amazing track record of success both within the Bank, and as
Musical Director of Martins Bank Operatic Society. Geoff is a talented
prizewinning musician and composer, and under his stewardship, the Operatic
Society wins awards for their spectacular staging and performance of well-loved
operettas. For anyone who needs to be quickly brought up to speed with the
history of Martins Bank, Geoff’s article is a concise, and positive tribute.
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WHY NOT ALSO VISIT
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The one
regret we have on his behalf, is the reference made in the
introduction to “hundreds of
branches throughout the North and a SCATTERING of Branches in the
South” – (Between 1928 and 1969 this “scattering” actually amounts to some
235 branches from the Midlands down to the Channel Islands, not including
Wales!) However, as an epitaph the article IS fitting, and is reproduced below…
 What did Martins Bank mean to you before the
banking upheavals of the past twelve months? Did you think of it as No. 6
in the English Clearing Bank league; or the largest independent bank with a
head office outside London; or Britain's oldest bank? Or did you picture
its golden grasshopper sign, its hundreds of branches throughout the North,
or its scattering of branches in the South? Now, as a member of the
Barclays Bank Group, Martins Bank will mean a great deal more to us. In
this short article GEOFFREY KELLY sketches the rise of this important
British bank.
The story begins in Liverpool in 1831.
Prominent citizens, seeing the advantages of the joint stock bank over the
private bank and incensed at the opening in the city of a branch of a Manchester-based
bank, founded the Bank of Liverpool. As the city prospered, its port
growing rapidly in importance, so the bank prospered. It survived the many
financial crises of that early Victorian period that swept away many other
banks.
For 50 years the Bank
of Liverpool remained a single unit, content to build up a sound business
with steadily increasing profits. Not until 1881 did it begin its policy of
expansion, at the same time adopting limited liability on its shares. At
first this expansion was confined to the opening of a second Liverpool
office and the absorbing of two other banks in the city. Then, in 1893,
there began a series of acquisitions which, by the first year of the
1914-18 war, had placed the name 'Bank of Liverpool Limited' above the
doors of branch banks in every county in the North of England.
LOCAL CONTROL
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With
these amalgamations came the system of local control by District Office.
This system, so valued today by bank and customers alike, owes its origins
largely to the Bank of Liverpool's late entry into the amalgamation arena.
In the course of its acquisitions, the Bank of Liverpool came up against
customers and shareholders, to say nothing of the local press: while
accepting the need for their country bank to merge, they were prepared to
challenge any attempt to remove all control to a remote centre such as
Liverpool. The compromise— the retention of the local bank's
head office as a District Office— proved a wise one. Some new branches were opened during the First
World War but the Bank of Liverpool's ambitious plans were delayed. To become a London Clearing Bank was its immediate objective and this
could be achieved only by absorbing an existing Clearing Bank—a
delicate operation.
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With its attractive cobblestone forecourt, and mellow facing bricks,
this new Martins’ branch
at Epsom – which also features a drive-in counter – produces a happy
compromise between
the old and new in architecture.
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How easily could the Bank's attempts
to absorb lead to its own absorption!
In 1918 the ambition was realised in the fusion with Martins Bank Limited,
a small but influential London Bank of great age. The name of the combined
bank became the Bank of Liverpool & Martins Limited. Martins Bank,
according to tradition, was founded as early as 1563 by Sir Thomas Gresham,
Royal Agent in the Low Countries to Queen Elizabeth I. Gresham's successful
efforts to persuade his Queen to reform the English coinage gave rise to
what is commonly known as Gresham's Law—that bad money drives out good.
GRASSHOPPER
SIGN
Gresham's
banking grew hand-in-hand with his goldsmith's business which he started at
'the sign of the Grasshopper' in Lombard Street. His Grasshopper sign was
adapted from the crest of his family's coat-of arms. Early records perished
in the Fire of London but evidence has survived to suggest that the use of
the Grasshopper mark by successive goldsmiths at the same site was allied
to the continuance of the banking business. After the Fire the history is
clear: banking continued unbroken and always the Grasshopper sign was used
to identify the Lombard Street office.
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TRADITIONAL
AND MODERN
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HISTORIC SITE
For
more than 250 years the name Martin was associated with the bank. A Martin
first became a partner in 1703 and the link remained unbroken until 1960.
On amalgamation with Bank of Liverpool, Gresham's Grasshopper joined the
Liver Bird in a new coat of arms. The historic site, by then numbered 68
Lombard Street, became the headquarters of a London District Office. The
ten years that followed the First World War saw the Bank of Liverpool &
Martins spreading its influence to yet more areas, mainly by absorbing
other banks in London, Manchester and Yorkshire. By 1928, when the great
amalgamation era was virtually over, the bank made another important
acquisition, one that firmly established its position as the leading
Northern bank. It bought the Lancashire & Yorkshire Bank, itself a
fusion of several smaller banks, with a Manchester headquarters and an
extensive branch network.
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The palatial banking hall (left) forms the centrepiece of Martins
Bank’s Head Office building in
Water Street, Liverpool. It
provides a striking contrast with the functionality of their
drive-in branch at Charles Street Leicester (right).
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The
acquisition gave the Bank of Liverpool & Martins its foothold in the
Isle of Man and right to issue banknotes there, a privilege enjoyed until
1960. One condition of the amalgamation was the shortening of the parent
bank's name to Martins Bank. So it was as Martins Bank Limited that the
North's largest bank entered a new era of planned expansion into the
Midlands, East Anglia, the South and the West Country. Only the war years interrupted
a vigorous expansion policy. Gradually, Martins' branches appeared in most
major centres of population—and in the Channel Islands.
730 BRANCHES
Today
Martins Bank has 730 branches in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and
the Isle of Man, a staff of more than 7,000, and seven District Offices. In
Liverpool most of the bank's main administrative and specialist departments
are brought together in the Head Office building at 4 Water Street. To the
safety of its vaults a portion of the Bank of England's gold was
transferred at the outbreak of the war. However, when it became clear that
Liverpool was as popular a bombing target as the capital the gold was
shipped to Canada. Twenty-four directors, one of them the Chief General
Manager, make up the Board of Martins Bank. Of the seven Districts, six
have local Boards whose members include the respective District General
Manager.
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The
Bank's Overseas department has its chief office in London and branches in
Liverpool and Manchester. Other interests include a stake in Mercantile
Credit, the hire-purchase finance company; a wholly-owned deposit and
finance subsidiary, Martins Bank (Finance) Limited; and a 10 per cent share
in the Swiss-registered Compagnie Internationale de Credit a Moyen Terme
SA, formed by 15 European and American banks.
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The “15.TG.63” legend above this fine gold grasshopper sign outside
Martins Bank’s Principal London Office at 68 Lombard Street denotes the
year in which the Bank is traditionally believed to have been established
and the initials of the founder, Sir Thomas Gresham. After making a fortune out of wool, he
gave the City of London its first Royal Exchange, where his Grasshopper
family crest still serves as a weathervane.
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Last
year Martins made a decisive move into the unit trust field, buying a 75
per cent interest in the companies operating the Unicorn Group of Unit
Trusts. Now renamed Martins Unicorn, the company forms a division of
Martins Bank Trust Company. The
Trust Company, formed this year,
took over the activities of the bank's 60 year-old trustee department
together with the income tax, investment and new issues departments. There
are few areas of recent banking development that Martins has not entered:
it has 'drive-in' branches, automatic cash dispensers, quick cash
counters. It is a member of the Bankers Card consortium. This then has been
a glimpse of Martins Bank, now an integral part of one vast banking
organisation. Understandably, Martins men and women feel they have behind
them a tradition of vigorous enterprise that fits them well for an
important role in the future of the combined bank.
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