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STATIONERY DEPARTMENT – OLD HALL STREET

Martins Bank has always produced most of its own stationery, apart from a few specialist items - notably cheques  - which need to have security features built in.  There have been three different locations for the department -  from before World War I until the opening of Head Office in 1932, stationery was held at a site in Pall Mall.  Production of major items of stationery then began from a new office in Liverpool’s Old Hall Street.  Finally 1969 a purpose built unit at Birkenhead becomes Martins third home to stationery department, and it produces stationery to meet the needs of the entire bank until the merger with Barclays.  Birkenhead continues to be operated by Barclays, along with a second department in Northampton for several decades until Barclays finally out-sources its stationery towards the end of the twentieth century. On this page, we look back to 1948, and the following article from Martins Bank Magazine which reveals a little of the work of the department.

WHY NOT ALSO VISIT THESE PAGES

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It also gives us the chance to meet some of the specialist staff who at this point in time are responsible for supplying the stationery needs of all the Bank’s branches and departments…

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1948 03 MBM.jpgThe Bank had a Stationery Department for some years prior to the 1914 war: it consisted of a staff of two, with a messenger giving part-time service for packing. Reorganisation into its present form did not take place until 1930 after the last major amalgamation with another bank had taken place and the attendant problems of accountancy which, of course, involved standardisation of forms, had been solved. The removal from Pall Mall to the present premises in Old Hall Street took place about the same time as the opening of the new Head Office in 1932, and it was following the removal to Old Hall Street that the Bank first started printing certain items of its own stationery by means of a Multigraph machine which was supplemented three years later by another. Early this year a third machine, a Multilith, was added. While the two previous models required the setting of type by hand, the new machine is of the Photo Offset pattern. The method used is to take a photograph of any form that may be required. A photographic print is then made on a prepared zinc sheet from which the actual printing is done. By this process the continual setting and distribution of type is dispensed with. Once a zinc plate becomes worn a new one can be made from the negative.

 

1948 The Machine Room at Old Hall Street MBM-Au48P22.jpgThe annual requisitions from the branches are staggered and distribution commences early in January and is continued, District by District, throughout the year. Upon receipt at the Department of a branch requisition it is passed to the storekeeper who proceeds with a truck along the various aisles of shelving on which the different forms are kept in numerical or alphabetical order. The various items are then loaded, after which the completed order is taken to the packing department. The volume of stationery required by the whole Bank in the course of a year is colossal. Last year some thirty million printed forms were used and over five million envelopes, while about six million coin bags are needed in the course of a year. To handle the volume of work which the supplying of close on 600 branches necessitates, an office staff of two men and two girls is needed, and another four girls are needed to operate the machines. The packing department occupies four men and the warehouse a fifth.

 

1948 The Packing Room MBM-Au48P23.jpgThe Manager is Mr. R. G. Evans, who entered the service as Assistant Stationery Clerk in 1920 after serving his time to the trade with Messrs. B. Haram & Co., of Birkenhead. He became Manager of the department in 1946 after the retirement of Mr. J. Clayton. In these days of short supplies, quotas and priorities the task of supplying the needs of the branches is exceedingly onerous, and it is pleasant to be able to record in all sincerity that it is the experience of every Branch Manager that his requirements are treated with that courtesy and desire to please which always characterises the best service. Mr. R. K. Currie is a comparative newcomer to the department, having joined it in 1946, after service at Liverpool City Office, Myrtle Street. Clubmoor. Foreign and Head Office Relief Staff. Mr. Currie was previously on the staff of Williams Deacons Bank at Levenshulme.  Of the girls Miss Barr has been there the longest. After education at Girtonville College, Aintree, she entered the service in 1934 as a multigraph operator and has been there ever since. Miss Greaves was educated at New Brighton High School and came into the Bank in 1941 in Stationery Department. Miss Everson was educated at Notre Dame High School. Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, and entered the Bank and the department in 1946. Miss Pinfold was educated at Westminster High and Commercial School and Shrewsbury Technical College entering the service in 1944 at Walton Branch. She was transferred to Stationery Department at the end of 1946. Miss Brisk was educated at Blackburne House and entered the Bank in Stationery Depart­ment in September of last year. Miss Hardman also entered the service in September, 1947 in Liverpool City Office, being transferred to Stationery Department in April of this year. She was educated at Childwall Valley High School. The personnel of the packing department consists of Messrs. Whinnet, Chick, Davies and Peel. Mr. Banks is at the warehouse.

1948 Mr R K Currie Stationery Dept Staff MBM-Au48P24.jpg

1948 Miss D M Everson Stationery Dept Staff MBM-Au48P24.jpg

1948 Miss K M Pinfold Stationery Dept Staff MBM-Au48P24.jpg

1947 to 1959 Mr R G Evans Manager MBM-Sp59P55.jpg

1948 Miss D L Brisk Stationery Dept Staff MBM-Au48P24.jpg

Miss M Barr

Multigraph Operator

Joined the bank here

1934

Mr R K Currie

Joined the Bank Here

1946

Miss D Everson

Machine Room Staff

Joined the Bank Here

1946

Miss K M Pinfold

Machine Room Staff

1946

Mr R G Evans

Manager

1947 to 1959

Miss D L Brisk

Machine Room Staff

1948

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1948 Miss E C P Greaves Stationery Dept Staff MBM-Au48P24.jpg

1948 Miss F S A Hardman Stationery Dept Staff MBM-Au48P24.jpg

Miss ECP Greaves

Machine Room

1948

Miss FSA Hardman

Machine Room

1948

 

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