Sign of the times… Martins’ glory days were fantastic. From making the bold statement of building a palatial head office completely away from London in the 1930s, to opening dozens of modern new branches finished to exacting standards in the most expensive materials in the 1960s, Martins has made a big splash in the ocean of banking. A reputation for friendly, high quality service has attracted both wealthy and loyal customers to the Bank. It comes as no surprise then, that this collection of banks, built up over 400 years is a highly desirable target for takeover or merger, and Barclays’ overtures to Martins lead to the marriage of the two banks in 1969. The changeover will need to be handled as sensitively as possible, for Martins Bank is loved both by its customers and staff, many of whom are vehemently opposed to their bank jumping into bed with a rival.				The signs they are a changing, in what became a familiar ritual up and down the land, as the Eagle takes over from the Grasshopper Image Barclays Group Archive Ref 33-875
This is a time when Martins is opening many new branches, and showing that it is in touch – not only with the youth of the day, but also with individual areas of the country and their banking needs. Martins has in fact been ripe for take over since the late 1940s. The campaign to slowly wipe Martins’ branding from the memory, and replace it with that of Barclays is in its own way as sophisticated as any seen today when major companies merge, and lasts, surprisingly, until the early 1980s. This page looks at the process of subtle change that goes into what “Barclays refer to as “The end of the beginning”, but that many see as the exact opposite…
Good Times… x 1922 Proud and beautifully appointed: The Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank Branch at old Trafford in the days before that bank merged with Martins Image: W N Townson Bequest									…Bad times 2006 The same branch empty and frozen in time. A reminder of better times, when famous sporting types popped in to Old Trafford to cash a cheque. Picture: www.flickr.com
Editorial Change…
In Winter 1967 the staff magazine logo is, as it has been for much of the sixties, simple, clean and still indicative of the independence of the bank. The next edition of the magazine will bring complete change, along with a more subliminal conversion of the staff themselves.
In Spring 1968 the magazine’s new logo is produced with the addition of the grasshopper, but NOT the liver bird, which has sadly been dropped from all Martins’ publications and leaflets. The subtle use of a BARCLAYS typeface heralds the intricate merger of the two banks’ cultures – whether you use a Barclaycash Machine, or do a little Martinplanning for your holiday, the logos are strikingly similar:
Game, set, and match. Amongst the treasures inherited by Barclays, is the sub branch on the Centre Court at the All England Tennis Club, Wimbledon, SW19. Martins advertises this special service in the official Wimbledon souvenir programme each year. In the following examples, the first is from 1961, and the second, from 1969 shows us how the merger message is being communicated.
Two sides of the same story… x
The extremely helpful bank now carries an extra slogan in its leaflets and guides – “a member of the Barclays group”, and references to the merger begin to appear in Martins Bank Magazine from Autumn 1968 onwards. The magazine itself will survive until Autumn 1969, and a ‘farewell’ edition will be printed in place of the Winter one. Just as Martins Bank Magazine itself earlier catered for the staff of LEWIS’S BANK, Barclays’ ‘Spread Eagle Magazine’ begins to welcome colleagues from Martins. As the merger progresses, Barclays prints what is meant to be a reassuring customer leaflet, proclaiming that the situation is in fact simply nothing worse than “the end of the beginning”:
Martins Bank Magazine						Barclays Customer Leaflet
Lifting the veil Bank people are secretive. They need to be: secrecy is part of a bank's stock-in-trade. Yet how easy it is for this banking virtue to creep so unfortunately and so unnecessarily into the sphere of staff communications. Never was it more important, now that the Bank is to merge its interests with those of Barclays, that there should be frank and open exchanges of information at all levels within this Bank. Never was it more vital that the proverbial grapevine should not be allowed by needless rumour and counter-rumour to assume the proportions of an oak tree. For these reasons we welcome wholeheartedly the Bank's decision to introduce and circulate to every member of the staff the news-sheet, Merger News. By appearing at frequent intervals Merger News will go some way towards lifting the veil of needless secrecy and keeping the staff— and their families—informed. The complete removal of that veil remains a task calling for conscious effort by every one of us. Something to add Committees are sitting, pilot schemes are afoot, systems are under investigation. All reflect the loss, after 137 years, of the independence of Martins Bank. As a mother weeps at her daughter's wedding it would be easy to shed tears at the events of recent months—until we remember not to confuse sentiment with sentimentality. After all, Martins is itself an amalgam of a dozen or more smaller banks and what we think of as the personality of Martins Bank is nothing more than a fusion of the character of each of those acquired banks. But can we speak of a bank having character or personality? Is it not the generations of bank people, from clerks to general managers, who, through a singleness of purpose, have impressed a collective personality on their bank? And if, through their staffs, those constituent banks of Martins have added something to the combined bank, is this not the time to think what we, the staff of Martins, are capable of contributing to the Barclays Group? Any means of getting to know our colleagues in Barclays is welcome and Barclays Bulletin, the quarterly newspaper of the Barclays Group which is now being sent to every member of our staff, is one such medium. As, however, it will be a little while before integration affects the majority of our staff Martins Bank Magazine will continue to appear throughout 1969.							Barclays/Martins merger Martins Bank joined up with Barclays last November. Since then we've been getting on with the business of integrating. A special Act of Parliament has been passed to simplify many of the details involved You'll start noticing the differences around Christmas. Martins will begin to call itself Barclays.. Martins customers will become customers of Barclays. Barclays name will start replacing Martins on branches and cheque books. These are the unmistakable signs that the two great banks with their traditions of progressive thinking and personal service, are getting together to strengthen even further Barclays’ position as one of the world's leading banking groups with over 5000 branches in 50 countries. Yet December marks only the end of the beginning, the technicalities of the merger. With these out of the way. the enlarged Barclays can begin to make full use of the benefits of amalgamation. Bigger resources and wider facilities will allow us to provide a service to meet every foreseeable future need - whether it's for a multi-million pound public company or a small private business, a surtax paying executive or a school leaver in his first Job There’s a Barclays branch near you - though it may still be called Martins. But whatever the name over the door, you’ll find the same service (and welcome) inside. Why not call in and see for yourself exactly what we’re so enthusiastic about? BARCLAYS BANK MARTINS BANK Picture & Text : Barclays Group Archive x
Winter 1968 - Full steam ahead
The following article is printed in BARCLAYS BULLETIN, Winter 1968, giving assurances to the staff of both banks on what the future will hold for them…
			MARTINS Bank is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barclays Bank and new Barclays' shares and Loan Stock have been allotted to the former shareholders of Martins under the terms of the Scheme of Arrangement for the merger of the two companies.
Martins will continue to trade in its own name for the time being as a member of the Barclays Group, but in order to obtain full benefit from the merger it is planned that the two banks should become one by 1970. This will be achieved by means of a private Act of Parliament, which it is hoped will receive Assent about the middle of next year, and become effective on or before January 1, 1970. Meanwhile several measures are being taken to help pave the way to complete integration. They include: · The appointment of two Directors from each bank to serve also on the Board of the other. Mr. W. G. Bryan and Mr. A. L. Grant will serve on the Board of Martins, and Sir Cuthbert Clegg and Mr. J. H. Keswick join the Board of Barclays. · A Co-ordinating Team has been formed consisting of three Barclays representatives, Mr. R. J. H. Gillman (Secretary) and Mr. K. A. Ebbs and Mr. J. G. Quinton (Assistant General Managers), and Mr. A. K. Bromley (Assistant General Manager of Martins). · Working parties have been set up to harmonise the systems, procedures and stationery of the two banks, and alterations will be introduced gradually. · Some Head Office Departments are to be brought together almost immediately. · It is planned to conduct the executor, trustee, income tax, new issue, registration and unit trust work of the combined banks through Martins Bank Trust Company Ltd., which will be renamed. · Control of some Martins branches will shortly be transferred to Barclays. A pilot scheme will begin this month in some Barclays Districts where only a few Martins branches are situated. It is hoped that the experience gained will enable the scheme to be extended throughout the rest of the country during 1969. · Eventually the present Barclays Local Head Offices, with one addition, will control all the branches of the combined bank. · A new Local Head Office will be established in Preston, controlling all branches in Cumberland (with the exception of Martins, Alston), Westmorland and Lancashire north of a line drawn south of Lytham, Leyland, Chorley, Darwen, Accrington and Burnley, and Martins, Bentham. · The Welsh branches at present under Liverpool Local Head Office will be transferred to the control of Shrewsbury L.H.O. The situation in London is still being considered and there may be minor boundary changes elsewhere, but the policy is that Martins branches will come under the Local Head Office in whose District they are situated. Chairman's Message Mr. John Thomson, Chairman of Barclays Bank Limited, stresses that the objective is the creation of a single, integrated organisation with equal opportunities for all. Mr. Thomson writes: “The merger of Martins with Barclays is an event of great significance in our histories and I extend a warm welcome to Martins Bank and every member of its staff on behalf of the Barclays Group. At the same time I would like to try and answer some of the questions which must be uppermost in your minds. This has been the ‘year of the merger’ for British industry, and our own merger is part of the general drive for increased efficiency through the creation of larger, more economic units. At the same time we are, in order to reap the full benefits of the merger, taking a fresh look at our organisational structure. “Some training in different systems and routines will be necessary, but I am confident that this will not present a serious problem and that we can move smoothly towards integrated systems common to all staff. 'Obviously some of you will be wondering whether you will have to move as a result of the merger. So far as branch staff are concerned, there will be little or no change in the existing standards of mobility. In other cases moves will be kept to a minimum, and adequate notice will be given to those concerned. Finally, a word about promotion prospects. No member of the staff of either bank need feel that his or her abilities will be neglected. The two Staff Departments are now working in close liaison in order to ensure that the staff of both banks are henceforth treated as one for the purpose of promotion. There will therefore be equal opportunities for all, with a unified structure for recruitment and training. A merger inevitably means change -but there can be no progress without it. Fortunately both Barclays and Martins have similar traditions, structures and philosophies and I am confident that with patience, understanding and co-operation, the adjustments can be achieved smoothly and painlessly”.
Value for money?
Picture : Martins Bank Archive					In Barclays’ half year accounts of 1969, its subsidiaries, including Martins are listed under assets. Martins is worth a cool £56.5million, more than fifteen times the value of The British Linen Bank. Acquiring Martins strengthens Barclays’ position in England and Wales, control of the British Linen Bank gives Barclays a good foothold in Scotland. Barclays also has ties with The Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland which will last well into the 1980s Picture : Martins Bank Archive
Game, set, and matches!										A little memento
	1970 Martins green is replaced by Barclays blue in this, almost the last giveaway to feature the Martins grasshopper. The Barclaytrust matchbook is given away to investors by Barclays Bank Trust company. (see also MARTINS UNICORN)									This symbol will appear on the Barclays cheques and statements of Martins customers as a kind of ‘heritage reminder’, and will remain on some Barclays stationery until the early to mid 1980s.
We’ve played all our cards…								… or have we?
This could well be the final assertion of the dominence of the spread eagle over the grasshopper, as another of Trust Company’s giveaways is a small velvety box containing two packs of playing cards. No longer afforded the protection of the majestic and mysterious Liver Bird, Sir Thomas Gresham’s Grasshopper must now roll over and accept defeat.
Pictures : Martins Bank Archive
The doorway at King’s Lynn is slightly recessed. Consequently the doors have remained sheltered from the elements. Picture : Martins Bank Archive		All good things must come to an end The doors might be shut forever, but the once mighty prescence of Martins is still felt all over England and Wales. At 103a High street KING’S LYNN, (2008 left) the Martins building is now a chic fashion outlet. Ironically, having closed its branch there, Barclays went on to swallow up The Woolwich and acquired premises only four doors down at No 107! At Barclays the Headrow, Leeds (2007),and Heaton Chapel (2000) below, the unmistakable coat of arms reminds everyone that this too is the home of the bank that went to extremes to be helpful… Pictures : www.yorkshiredailyphoto.com and Michael Alderson
Farewell to Martins Bank Magazine…
The final edition of Martins Bank Magazine is the Winter 1969 commemorative issue, which looks back at hightlights of the twenty four years – and therefore 96 issues – of the magazine’s existence. The fawewell issue begins with this letter from Martins’ Chief General Manager…
Goodbye everybody… x Boardroom Blues The last ever meeting of Martins Board, 9 December 1969…
© gut informiert 2007 to date