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 We are grateful to Friend of the Archive Gavin Hunter for tracking down
this wonderful (albeit what we suspect to be a slightly photo-shopped) image of Martins Bank’s Dacre Hill
sub-Branch, and for obtaining permission for us to use it on this page.
The Wirral
peninsula comes to a head at Birkenhead and
Wallasey, and
this is where Branches of Martins Bank can be found at every twist and turn –
At Birkenhead there is Hamilton
Square, Borough Road, Charing Cross, Claughton
Village, Dacre Hill, Higher Tranmere, Park, Prenton, Rock Ferry, Upton, and
Woodside Lairage.
Add to this a further seven Branches at
Wallasey, and many more stretching back down the peninsula to Ellesmere Port,
and you will see Martins Bank’s dominance of this area. Martins’ sub-Branch at
Dacre Hill is really quite short lived, being opened in 1930 and mothballed
in 1942 but not reopened after the Second World War.
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In Service: 1930 until June 1942
Image © The William
Champion Magazine
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 Branches
of the Bank have been opened (or will shortly be opened) in London (213,
Baker Street, N.W.1, 32, Lowndes Street, S.E.1, and 27/29, Tothill Street,
S.W.1.); Rock
Ferry (Dacre Hill); Nottingham and Redcar; and Sub Branches have been
opened at Barrow-in-Furness (Rawlinson Street) (Sub to Barrow-in-Furness) ;
Liverpool (Springwood, Mather Avenue) (Sub to Garston) ; and Southampton
Docks (Sub to Southampton). Premises for new Branches have been acquired at
Liverpool (Anfield); Eastham, Cheshire; Gateshead (High Street); and
Middlesbrough (Newport Road).
Extract
from Martins Bank’s Annual Report for 1930 © Barclays
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Liverpool Journal of Commerce 11 December 1930
Successor
Rights Unknown - Image Courtesy of British Newspaper Archive
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As a result of the terrible staff
shortages caused by the War, many of the Bank’s Branches are mothballed for
the duration. Unfortunately a significant number are not re-opened, and
Dacre Hill is amongst them, shutting for good in 1942
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Image
© BT 1931
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If you can help with details, memories
or images of this or any of Martins Bank’s one thousand plus other Branch
and sub branch buildings, then please do get in touch with us by clicking HERE.
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A Birkenhead Empire…
With
the sea on three sides, the Wirral Peninsula is home to some of Cheshire’s
most exclusive addresses, and it seems that the 1930s are the heyday for
the presence of Martins Bank Here.
In addition to the many Wirral Peninsula Branches mentioned above,
Birkenhead has no less than TWELVE Branches all open at the time of this
extract from Martins Bank’s 1932 Annual Report:
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Image
© Barclays 1932
We
would be surprised if there were as many cash machines as that in Birkenhead nowadays, let alone
Branches of one particular Bank! Incidentally, George Ball, listed as
Manager of Birkenhead 50 Hamilton square above, becomes what Martins Bank
Magazine will come to refer to as a “pioneer” when he moves South to open
the first of Martins Bank’s Birmingham Branches in 1935/6.
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