The following is a selection of comments and memories received by us here at Martins Bank Archive. If you would like to get in touch with former colleagues, or simply share your memories with everyone, please email: gutinfo@btinternet.com All views expressed are those of the contributor. You might also like to visit:
	Grasshopper Pensioners’ Club		Lewis’s Bank Memories

Our thanks to Nick and the Making History Team at Pier Productions for featuring the Archive in their programme on BBC Radio 4, on 1 November 2011. The reponse from listeners was magnificent and many areas of the archive have been helped by your recollections and your resourcefulness. A number of the comments shown below also form part of branch and feature pages across our online archive.
In 1964 I was a Major of sixteen years service and had banked all that time with Cox and Kings as we were encouraged to do on commissioning. It was therefore unpleasant to receive a stern letter when for the first time I incurred an overdraft - all of seven pounds. I was serving in Newcastle and discussed this with the TA Deputy Brigade Commander, who was manager of the GOSFORTH branch of Martins. In no time at all he arranged the transfer of my account and I enjoyed good and personal service previously lacking. Sadly this experience was all too short because of the Barclays' takeover. Noel Pepperall
I started my computer career in April 1959 with the Manchester based company Ferranti Ltd. I was based at 21 Portland Place, close by the BBC. After a two week course on programming a computer called Perseus, my first project was to adapt a sales demonstration programme for Martins Bank on a Pegasus computer. I worked with an employee of the bank called Denis Pearce (Pictured, Left). He wrote the programme to process the bank's ledger and I wrote the production of customer statements. We operated the records of the bank's SOUTH AUDLEY STREET branch for the month of January 1960. The bank then purchased a computer for the Liverpool head office. This order was followed by orders from the Westminster Bank and the National Provincial. Martins was certainly the first UK bank to operate customer accounts on a computer in the UK, and I believe the first in the world. The bank eminence gris behind all this was Ron Hindle. I was particularly impressed by the fact that he saw computers not merely as a way to reduce costs by cutting staff, but first and foremost as a means to offering new services, such as credit clearing, to customers. A man of real vision! David Bissett
I listened with interest the article on Martins bank this week and I thought you might be interested in my recollections. My father was a bank manager for Martins during the 50's he managed the Underhill branch in Stockport and another one in Heaton Moor. He had worked in the bank ever since he left college and worked his way up to become manager. I think he started in Manchester at St. Anne's, because one of the tales he told us as children was that he had gone to work one morning to find the branch had gone because of the bombing the previous night, it was shortly after this when he joined the RAF. He was very strict as to how things were done and if the accounts didn't balance at the end of the day everybody had to stay behind until the fault was found. He was very strict with our accounts too. When we went to college we were given a cheque book to spend while we were there and he went through all the stubs when we came home and we had to give an account on what we had spent it on, and he dressed us down if he thought we were too extravagant. Jane Bonnick
	I was a customer of Martins Bank from about 1948 until it was taken over by Barclays. I was introduced to banking as a college student by L O Kewick, at the time manager of the BEXLEY branch. I still use a Martins Bank Limited cover for my (Barclays) cheque book. Ronald Bristow
On a recent programme you had two articles back to back, one involving the need for permission to marry in Scotland 80 years ago, and the second looking for info on Martins Bank. I joined Martins in 1967, and in 1968, when I was 20, it was necessary for me to request permission to marry. As well as a letter, I had to be interviewed by the Regional General Manager for the North East - a very big white chief! As your correspondent said, Martins was acquired by Barclays in 1969. The reason we were given in later years was that Martins had been too succesful for the size of its capital base and that the Bank of England had suggested the "merger". To some extent this was born out by the quality of ex- Martins managers within Barclays, in that they were usually readily identifiable as "Martians" by their entrepreneurial style – they were businessmen first and bankers second, which was a tradition I was happy to follow in my own relatively successful career. Upon early retirement I was told by my then Regional Manager that I was one of the best bankers he knew, but that I would not survive hours under the micro-management Of Lloyds (I was by then working for the Bank of Scotland). One anecdote that springs to mind relates to HOUGHTON LE SPRING Branch in 1968, which had only one toilet for 5 men and 5 women, and this on a sort of raised platform at one end of the staff side of the banking hall. There was never a problem with access as you could see any occupiers' feet through the three inch gap under the door without hardly raising your eyes! Michael Bryant
Great to hear the piece on Martins Bank on Radio 4’s Making History. My father was manager at Meols Branch in the 60’s, but retired when the merger with Barclays was looming (I’m sure he saw the writing on the wall about how life was about to change from a friendly caring bank to the money grabbing entity which Barclays is now). He died in 1997, but my Mum, Sheila (also a former Martins employee at Liverpool, Water Street) is fighting fit and living in Wallasey. I’ve told her about the website and she will contact you soon. She has loads of photos and information (she did her thesis at college on Martins!). Keith Grey
My late mother was a junior cashier at the BLACKBURN branch for a couple of years circa 1958. Part of her job was to accompany one of the Senior Cashiers to staff one of the sub branches that were only open one day a week & this particular branch was well known for only having three or four customers during the day. On this particular day the pair of them were on duty & not one customer appeared. It was only when they packed up to return to the main Blackburn branch did they discover that they had forgotten to unlock the front door & no customer had the temerity to knock… Harry Harper
By fluke chance I learned of the radio programme from a neighbour whom I bumped into this morning. She invited me in for a coffee and I started reminiscing about Martins Bank and she told me about it. I searched the Internet and found your email address. My late sister Jean worked at Victoria Street Liverpool branch in the early 1950s and I joined the same branch as a junior straight from school in 1956 when Ken Washington was the manager. After 2 years I was moved near to where I lived; across the Mersey to LOWER BEBINGTON branch and then onto relief serving at some 40 branches including CHILDWALL FIVE WAYS, MOSSLEY HILL, MYRTLE STREET. TUE BROOK, BOOTLE, Head Office (Water Street known as LIVERPOOL CITY OFFICE)and across the river at ROCK FERRY, ELLESMERE PORT, LITTLE SUTTON, WOODSIDE and Seacombe but many others whose names will only come back to me over time I suspect. I then had to do National Service and came back to HEYWOODS branch in Liverpool and then joined the Trustee Dept in Water Street; started all over again to get the Trustee qualifications of the Institute of Bankers. The bank was moving and I successively trained in investment management,financial planning and tax and looked after Littlewoods Pools winners. I had a lot to do with computers with the Pegasus Mark 2 I had to make work at Heywoods and then another system for the Trustee Dept..it never worked properly! Barclays moved me to Manchester and after 3 years of their dreadful ways I left and started my own company which I used to call "the last branch of Martins Bank".. Peter Hayes
I listened with interest to your programme on Radio 4 about Martins Bank. It jogged my memory that I had seen the name on some documents at home and so I had a dig and sure enough, there it is! Among the items I inherited from my late grandmother is a Littlewoods Pools cheque from Martins Bank Ltd. VICTORIA STREET BRANCH, LIVERPOOL. The artwork on the cheque is beautifully executed and is mounted on a ‘Circle of Happy Winners’ poster which Littlewoods must have given to winners. The date is 24^th April 1957 and my Grandmother and Step Gandfather were 2^nd prize winners with 22 points – there prize was £2,669/6/- It doesn’t sound much now but I believe it was a lot of money in 1957. David Moorhouse
Image © Barclays Ref 30/1645		I was a Martins Bank customer. I am 57 now but my parents opened an account for me when I was 6 years old. My branch was in Wallasey Cheshire. Somewhere in my parents house I have a grasshopper money box. When my first Branch closed I went to Martins in Liscard village. It was then taken over by Barclays and I am still in that branch, despite me moving to Essex 35 years ago. I still have the same bank account number I had from Martins.
They have never been able to get me to change it. As young as I was, I still have very clear memories of opening up the account with my mother, they made such a fuss of me. Love the web site Jackie Pasley
Just caught the end of a Radio 4 piece on Martins Bank My father Peter WWW.PETERYATES.CO.UK was an architect of Ryder and Yates (North East architects from 1952-1985) Peter worked on Martins Bank Interior refit in HEXHAM in 1961. Somewhere I have 2 photos of 2 separate wall murals (huge photographically reproduced drawing on Formica) - I think one may be of Henry’s Nonsuch Palace (possibly) - and an interesting interior staircase behind. The other is a photographic reproduction of a different country house. Jolyon Yates

I have just stumbled on your Martins Bank web site - what a great site, bringing back some nostalgic memories! My own memories were not all good; I worked at Bournemouth Branch for some 5 years from 1959 through to 1964 and remember, fondly, some staff (Freddie Marsh, Mick Readey, Sally Hantsch, Pat Veale, David Rees etc). I was happy to "escape" in 1964. However Harry Robinson (Manager) was remote from his staff and Bertie Mason (pro-Manager) was obsessed with pedantic systems (well it was a bank!)and frankly not very competent himself and a rather unpleasant character! I would love to hear from anyone who was at the bank then and chat over old times! Should anyone enquire please feel free to pass my e-mail address on to them, thank you.

mike.hardy@21ctc.co.uk

Hi my name is John Dowler and worked at Lombard Street Branch from 1961 till 1967 . I worked in the clearing dept and later accounts dept. I would love to contact some of the staff at that time.

johnd7896@aol.com

Just been reading the Staff Notice Board and Comment Page, and was amused by references to 'stoking the coke boiler' and renewing pens and nibs and cleaning the inkwells, (a job I hated) However I well remember my first experience of Branch banking, which I found very refreshing, i.e. On reporting to Clubmoor Bch, in Liverpool on 1st June 1940 I was asked, "are you any good at table tennis?" Any spare moments were spent at a full-sized table in a room over the strong room. Happy days at a time of national crisis, with Dunkirk in everybody's mind. I was just sixteen. The other players were the acting Manager, Eric Sexton, who turned out to be   my brother-in-law's cousin and Alan J Brown, who though a devoted Rugby fan never the less smoked cigarettes almost continually.

The other peculiarity of the branch was that it was situated bang in the middle of what was considered the biggest, at that time, of a Council Estate. No high risers, but neat semi's with gardens stretching all along the routes of the Liverpool Tramways. They ran through the estates on 'Express Tracks in the middle of the wide roads, dual carriageway, with the trams in the middle. Such a situation meant that all electric and gas supplies were available through shilling, (5p) and one old penny meters for their supply respectively. This meant an army of collectors touring the estates with very sturdy and large 'Gladstone' like bags to hold the money. Every day from about 2 O’clock until closing time they were in the Branch counting out their day's takings.

The pennies were expertly wrapped in five shillings' worth in what looked like sausage rolls and folded down at each end, these they stacked in £5. Copper bags, a sort of carboardy stout container. The shillings were put into £5 bags and then loaded into £100 bags made of very shiny, but tough, brown paper. All well and good, but you can imagine the metal shelving in the strong room groaning under this weight. However help was at hand in the form of the 'Cash Taxi' from L C Office bullion centre. The taxi  was on an old, London, pre-war type with the luggage compartment open to the wide world. The bank staff would load up a stout trolley wheel it down a ramp and a garden drive to the waiting vehicle.

After loading, helped by the two accompanying clerks, the bags were strapped in and off the taxi would go with a most pronounced list on its nearside. I never recall a giant spillage, but it must have been touch and go. Later as manager of BROADMEAD Branch in Bristol, where we had the capacity to receive the daily takings from Lewis's Store, this was trundled across a busy road on a trolley, accompanied by a commisionaire, from Lewis's, our porter and perhaps one of the cashiers. At Christmas time the load would sometimes equal £300,000 to £350,000.!!  But there was never any  thought of being 'mugged'. Nobody had much plastic in those days and Lewis's customers seemed to want to pay in cash. At least the cash was all neatly banded and didn't require any counting. DBL

I was fascinated and interested in discovering the Martins Bank website and congratulate you on getting such a lot of information and history together. It brought back floods of memories and I trust some of what I share with you now will be useful. I started work straight from school at the age of 16 on 29th August 1960 at 68 Lombard Street, London on a salary of £365 p.a. I have a letter signed by F.Gillam, Assistant Staff Manager, instructing me to report to Mr. W.Broadbent, Accountant at 9 a.m.

During my 6 years at Martins I worked for about a year in what was called "Waste Dept." and for a short period in Ledger Dept. Mike Pettit was Manager of Waste Dept. and F Blaker was Assistant. I was interested particularly to see their photographs on the website as well as others I recognise from that period...A.J.Bannister, Chief Cashier and J H Trigg, Head Messenger. Most of the remaining time I spent in Registrars and New Issues Dept situated about a quarter of a mile from Lombard Street in Clements House, Gresham Street. We would use the restaurant facilities at Lombard Street (Cicala Club?) where main course and a dessert set us back the princely sum of 1s.3d.(£0.06) - even good value in those days! Victor Donne was Manager in Registrars Dept. and W. Cowan Assistant. Other people I remember from there were Ron Shaw, Jim Howard, Dave Hack, John Massey and Tom Jones (Messenger). Also E.J.A.Salmon (of whom you have a photograph following his promotion to Branch Securities Dept.)

Apart from the routine work of reconciling and processing cheques in Waste Dept. some duties got us out of the office and made life a bit more interesting as follows:

1. Having to physically get bundles of cheques to the Clearing House across the road in Lombard Street inside the tight time constraints..often meaning breathless dashes between the buildings, but, on recollection, never missing the Town Clearing deadlines.

2. Visiting the Bank of England to collect bank notes and then distributing the cash to branches throughout central London and sometimes into Kent. This was done in a modified Ford Thames Trader van with sliding doors each side and small windows. There were little or no security devices on the vehicle and, in fact, this same bullion van was ambushed somewhere in rural Kent a few years later and a substantial amount of money was stolen.

3. Visiting Charringtons Brewery in east London or Cerebos Salt in NW London to collect their cheques for paying-in. Martins indeed provided a very good service to its customers.

4. Taking cash in a large brown suitcase to Guardian Assurance Company just along the road when it was their staff pay-day to save them coming into Lombard Street to withdraw their salaries and presumably to ease congestion on the counters at lunch time. Incidentally, it was a tradition in Lombard Street for staff to withdraw cash in 10/- notes rather than anything larger.(when 10/- went much further than 50p does now!)

5. Post Room duties in the Basement of Lombard Street where there were pidgeon holes for every branch. Here I learned and still retain a lot about the geography of NW England in general and the suburbs and districts of Liverpool in particular.

Whilst in Registrars and New Issues Dept. we saw a number of notable public issues of shares, when stagging New Issues did not have the same restraints it has now. The most memorable was Penguin Books Ltd. which was many times over-subscribed due to the recent publication of the controversial (for those days) "Lady Chatterley's Lover" There was weekend overtime for many hundreds of staff and I remember scores of unopened mailbags lining the corridors of Clements House. I also remember that on several occasions staff were brought from Liverpool and the North to assist in this work.

We were also responsible for preparing dividend cheques which, when ready for dispatch, were wheeled by us in large baskets about a quarter of a mile up the road to the GPO for franking and onward delivery. Living north of the Thames I did not venture into south London very often but did, on a few occasions, use the splendid sports ground in Catford for tennis after work when we were not delayed by overtime through heavy workloads or looking for differences.

George Smailes, Romford

I have just been reading the critique of the Argosy Players production featured which included Eric Wylie amongst the cast. He was my first boss when I started in the bank in 1954 at West Kirby and was one of  the most delightful men I have ever known, a real boon for a wet-behind the-ears 16 year old starting work. As well as the Argosy Players he was a stalwart of the Operatic Society and it was quite usual for him to stand at the back of the office, customers or not, and give us a stirring rendition of whatever part he was playing  including full vocals.

There can have been no better place to start work. We were expected to  get in by 8.30 and he and I used to catch the same bus from the village where we lived. Getting on at the stop before mine he always  sat in the same seat and occasionally, if I was a bit on the drag and  had to run to catch the bus, he would be waving his arms about encouraging me to get a move on.  If I did miss the bus I would hear  about it for days afterwards. Equally, he liked to catch the 4.10 bus  home and if I hadn't finished the remittances by 4 there was hell  to pay. Fortunately it didn't happen often. In the summer if we did miss that bus we used to walk the three miles home - he was nearly as  wide round as he was tall and reckoned the exercise did him good.

The customers loved him as much as his staff did. West Kirby in those  days was an up-market residential area for Liverpool and it was quite usual for some customers to arrive in their chauffeur-driven cars to  collect the housekeeping, usually on a Friday.  There was one  particular pair of widowed sisters who came and he would always greet them with some pithy comment whether there was anyone else in the banking hall or not.  We never knew what he was going to come out  with, but it was usually something along the lines of "what do you  want you silly old bats". They loved it.  Another customer had won £75000 - then the maximum - on the football pools and used to pay for  all the staff to have dinner at the local pub on balance nights.

Apart from the routine jobs like the local clearing and stoking the  boiler, I did have other less usual duties to perform. We had an elderly widower who was an alcoholic and there was an arrangement with his family whereby I had to deliver to him one bottle of Johnny Walker every Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say I always received a warm welcome.

I was a very keen cricketer in those days and was selected to go and play in a match in Wakefield which necessitated taking the Saturday morning off. The assistant manager was Paul Huddlestone and we used to  have regular discussion about the game  and I was explaining to him  how I had had to turn down the opportunity because I was working and Eric must have overheard me. Half an hour or so later I was called  into his office and told to go as long as it didn't become a regular practice. As well a being kind he was also strict and I learnt a lot from him. At one point I had bought a huge pipe and I was called into his office and told in no uncertain terms never to speak with it in my mouth. That was embarrassing enough, but how many other managers would  have told me the same thing, but out in the general office?

I was very sad when, after a couple of years,  I had to leave West Kirby and go onto relief. But, again, I met some wonderful new characters and some not quite so wonderful. New Brighton was one of my first postings and the manager there, Basil Williams, used to moonlight playing the piano for the summer season shows at the Floral Pavilion.  he lived in the flat above the bank and, when working elsewhere, would wander downstairs in his dressing gown just after nine to open the post before retiring upstairs again until a more  civilised hour.  Ellesmere Port, although difficult to get to from where I lived, was also popular. Gerry Vaughan was the manager and, apart from chain-smoking, was out of the same mould as Eric Wylie. If  not on the counter I was deployed on the remittances which included  several hundred cheques brought in daily by a local chemical company. These used to arrive as late as possible and the doors were even shut at 3.30 one day before they turned up. They also had a habit of being wrong on the paying-in slip which made finishing and balancing the remittances a nightmare.  Eventually, an arrangement was made where I  went up to their offices and helped prepare the lists which made life a bit easier.  The last of my favourite branches was Toxteth which served Liverpool University and the Liverpool Philharmonic. The customers there were a weird and wonderful mixture which I found fascinating.  University staff mixed with Chinese and a dozen other nationalities seamen.

The least favourite relief destination was Little Sutton, a three-man branch equally as difficult to reach. The manager was called "Mac" - I can't remember his proper name - and he must have had a particularly unhappy home life as he really disliked going home before 6.30.  This meant that I seldom got home much before 7.30 which meant, if I was going out somewhere, I didn't have a chance to have a meal. All the relief staff dreaded the call to Little Sutton and various strategies  were devised to avoid this posting if possible.

Eventually Little Sutton and the outer reaches of the Liverpool suburbs proved too much for me. Barclays advertised constantly for staff to join DCO and train for a couple of years before a foreign posting and, after three years on relief I resigned and joined DCO. I had decided that banking perhaps was not for me, but the prospect of earning 50% more pay for two years whilst looking for something more amenable was attractive. As it happens I did go to Nigeria, but that is another story. I did eventually return to Martins and am,  therefore, probably the only person who worked twice for Martins and  twice for Barclays… CJB

I was part of the Mobile Branches Team in 1965. No 7 was the first double-axle van and built in Newport Pagnell, home of Aston Martin, where we returned after a few shows to have the stabilisers attached to the van as it helped to avoid snakes!  This was the first time I came across Solvo-autosol for cleaning the aluminium strips especially after moving on wet days to a new show and having rained at a show.

The staff canteen at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Grey Street was set-up by my father when he worked there.  He recalled the event as being given some money (budget probably the better word) and it was all in place as requested.  This would coincide with the time when he was the Accountant there prior to be appointed as manager in Ashington about 1950. My father was known as Harold Darling and retired in 1966 as manager of 93 High Street, Stockton-on-Tees.

I believe we were all proud to be ‘Martinis’ as we nicknamed ourselves at the time of the merger as Barclays called it.  One Local Director was somewhat surprised to have the answer from me on the ‘merger’ that I stated it was a takeover and we had to just get on with it so it was all right from that point of view.  How much longer Martins would have lasted is a very moot point for one day a large company would have asked for finance and resources would not be there to cover it. When I was Principal of Securities the daughter of an ex Chief General Manager of Martins would phone for access to her box and even in Barclays days we had move quickly as I believe her father was still alive!

Mr JR: I remember Martins 7 digit account numbers but can't remember my own original staff account number. Lloyds Bank also operated with 7 digit account numbers until fairly recently and it became necessary to add a zero prefix to them when transmitting payments to their accounts. I still have a Martins Bank tie which still sees the light of day from time to time when in the company of former colleagues. I was interested to see the Littlewoods pools cheque in the MARTINS FIRSTS section. The cheque depicts one of their major processing centres at Edge Lane in Liverpool which is now a listed building about to be converted into two schools. The cheque bears the lithograph signature of Cecil Moores, brother of the company's founder John Moores and is countersigned by J.Cuthbert Clegg who I knew personally in the 1960's he was head of the Littlewoods section at Liverpool, Victoria Street. The branch had a staff of around 80 and most were in a Littlewoods Pools syndicate that sought its fortune each week. I always remember that Mr.Clegg would arrive at the branch each Monday morning with very large sacks containing thousands of cheques and usually more than a million postal orders. He was normally able to tell us by that time what sort of dividend would be payable that week based on the number of draws on the coupon the previous Saturday. I can remember one particular day when we had 23 points and him telling us that it looked as if we were likely to scoop at least £50,000, an absolute fortune. Sadly, as more coupons were checked more winners with 24 points appeared and we finally finished up with about £4.000 between us but to me my share still seemed a small fortune to a young clerk…

Mr BT: “I have the following photograph of Prenton, Birkenhead Branch which was my first managerial appointment before taking over Norwich in 1965. I have the list of branches published in January 1969 in a green leather cover - the main branch at 59 London St also controlled the Cattle Market, University and Eaton sub-branches, the latter we built in Eaton ahead of all the other Banks and when the building was completed it was handed over to Barclays, much to their delight! Martins were thin on the ground in East Anglia, John Thorogood at Kings Lynn and Ken Batten at Ipswich. We were looked down upon by Barclays but still managed to increase staff numbers from 14 - 22 in 4½ years - most of the new business coming from Barclays. At the Norfolk show it was suggested by a newly arrived Local Director (Ken Williams) that we should combine our stands which we did. He came from London and  as was the custom, gin and tonics were freely available. Mr Richard Gurney paid us a visit and when he saw the alcohol, being a Quaker, he walked straight out. Nevertheless he was very kind to my staff and myself”.

Mr CR: “I was immediately happier in Barclays. In my later days in Martins I was working in Liverpool suburban branches where, amongst the younger staff, there was what I would call a ‘Liverpool Docker’ approach to work. I also used to wonder whether we were expected to make extra profits to counterbalance the new branches which were probably loss making (Editor: See Epsom branch below) I certainly got fed up with a nine to six day at best, and often worse…”

Mrs EA – “Martins Bank was very much a family, I spent many happy years working in branches in the Tyne Valley, Newcastle to Haltwhistle and then Wigmore Street, London, before returning to the Yorkshire area. I know that I have a photo of the branch in Hexham (left) before it was renovated for the first time about early 80's. If you would be interested I will try to find it in my loft. I enclose a scan of the salary scale for my first appointment which was at the Prudhoe branch, it must have been the salary that attracted me to the job!!!!  The manager was certainly a father figure, a better boss would be hard to find.”

Mr PJ “When the merger took place Barclaycard had reps on the road who were calling regularly on the businesses that were members while recruiting others where appropriate. At the time I was  one of the reps in the team that looked after the 'key accounts' (the larger businesses and groups). Some of this team were sent to talk to Martin's branch managers  and  staff in London (this may have happened elsewhere too?) to tell them that this really was a Merger between two banks  and not a takeover of Martins by the (comparatively) large Barclays with attendant immediate Martins staff redundancies, etc.  I spoke to two of the branches and they appeared to be reassured! After 20 years in Barclays branches I did 20 years with Barclaycard.  In the days when I was a rep for Barclaycard (and later ending up as one of the managers in the publicity section) the big rule was never to lend a person more than they could afford to pay back for 2 reasons: 1)In the end they won't thank you for it so you eventually make an enemy, 2)The cost of collecting the
debt can be considerable. No comment about the various credit cards today…”

Mr KM – “Epsom Branch has some interesting memories for me. It was rumoured that the only reason the branch was opened was because the London District General Manager lived there and he did not want his wife going into other banks to cash her cheques! This could be true because at the end of Day 1 we only had seven accounts. It had a ready built strong room as it was built on the site of the old Police Station and the cells were underground. The architects made the mistake of putting in a nice garden but the bank did not want to pay for gardeners so I, as the junior male, was given this responsibility! I also worked at 23, ST. JAMES'S ST London. I was there for six years, in the original building, the temporary one in the basement of the Economist Newspaper and then the spanking new one. George Milne, the manager, received an OBE   for "Services to Commonwealth Relations" because one of our most famous customers was Doctor Hastings Banda. George Milne joined the British Mutual Bank, there were only two branches, St. James's St and Ludgate Circus and Martins took it over”.

Mr BL: “I worked for Martins from 1961 and retired from Barclays in 1995.  I met my wife at Martins, Soho Square Branch, and our first child was born at 11.50pm on 12th December 1969 just 10 minutes before the demise of Martins.  My wife gave an extra push to ensure the baby was born in the Martins era!”

Mr JH – “My own Martins experience began in 1947 when, at age seventeen, I presented myself at the Hyde branch on September the first. I remember well the feeling of foreboding that accompanied me on that first visit, as banking then was vastly different from today’s more ‘laid back’ experience. I was smartly dressed as I thought, in a two piece suit and this was fine for the first few days. Then I was politely taken aside, when it was suggested that perhaps a three piece suit to include a waistcoat, might be more appropriate. This was duly rectified and I began to settle down into what turned out to be a friendly atmosphere. I was shown much respect by the nine gentleman who, together with only two ladies, made up the branch staff. Carrying books up from a deep strongroom, stoking a coke fired boiler, changing pen nibs and blotting paper on the counter – all became daily tasks and part of my routine. I had a ball point pen but was not allowed to use it in the books of the Bank, as the early ‘Biros’ as they were known, apparently posed a certain security risk. So wooden pens with detachable nibs fed by dipping into ink wells, were the order of the day. Thankfully, by the time I completed my national service in the RAF some three years later and returned to the same branch, all this had changed. Even two piece suits were not frowned upon any more”.

Mr BS – “I joined Martins in 1969.  Went to sign my contract with them but told all "new"  contracts had to be "Barclays"  because of imminent merger. But I started at a Martins branch on 6.9.69.   After learning the Martins systems we eventually merged.  Then I was sent to help the integration. It was like going back to the stone age, and I was only 16 years old.    Sadly, the Martins systems had to fit the Barclays, because they were "bigger".   A very big retrograde step.  They did catch up eventually!! It was not a take-over they told us,  just a merger.  What a laugh for a year or two until we had so many reversals back to the Martins systems”

Mr RP – “I worked in branches of Martins in West Yorkshire 1949/55 and in the Manchester Trustee Department 1955 onwards. I never forget that the name Barclays Bank Trust Co Ltd was simply a change from Martins – until the merger Barclays merely had a Trustee Department.  Also Barclays inherited from Martins the ground-breaking ownership of Unicorn Unit Trusts”.

Mr JW – “I joined Martins 17.10.55 at Shotley Bridge and apart from spending two years National Service in the RAF had all my career in North East branches, taking in a spell as a visiting Inspector in the late 1960's when I visited all 90 something North East Branches, retiring in 1991.   I was chief clerk at Wingrove, Newcastle upon Tyne Branch at the time of the merger”.

Mrs J –“I worked at Brampton and Cockermouth in the 1960s - Really happy days, we worked so closely together. I remember going out and doing people’s shopping during the day. It was a way to get to know local traders and drum up business for the bank. When the lady at the fruit shop went for her lunch, I would stand behind the counter and mind the shop for her! I used to dread the interest rate change, because we had to alter everything by hand, and stay late until the work was done. I remember once a lady who owed someone some money wrote a cheque on a piece of toilet paper and stuck on a tuppenny stamp to pay the duty – we had to cash it like it was an ordinary cheque…”

Mr A – “I have an old metal savings bank which I received from Martins bank when I opened my very first account there around 55 years ago. It is chrome and has various slots for the coins  that were current then. The top of the slots would  only let you put the coins in, you had to take the money box to the bank to get it opened”.

Mrs M – “I worked for Martins in Preston and The Fylde Coast in the 1940s. They were such happy times. I remember finding it hard to live on a wage of 26/- (£1.30) per week and that had to pay for trains fares and lunch each day. You had to leave the bank when you got married – when I left, my wage was £300 per year, about £5.75 a week”….

THE MARTINS BANK ARCHIVE PROJECT HAS NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER WITH BARCLAYS PLC, BUT WE ARE GRATEFUL

FOR THE CONTINUED AND GENEROUS GUIDANCE AND SUPPORT OF BARCLAYS GROUP ARCHIVE

© gut informiert 2007 to date