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The first general meeting of the
Carlisle and Cumberland Bank is held in the Bush Inn at Carlisle on 21 July
1836. Amongst the first directors of the
bank is John Crosby of Kirkby Thore (also known as Kirkby Thure or
Kirkbythure) who is already in business as a banker in his own right.
Crosby also offers facilities at
Penrith and Appleby on market days. |
In Service:
1847 until 1932 Image - Martins Bank Archive Collections © Geographia and
Successors 1968 Image © Barclays 1931 |
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In November 1836 he is appointed by his fellow
directors as an agent of the Carlisle and Cumberland. At this time the Carlisle banks prefers
trade to be done in Westmorland and Cumberland banknotes only,
treating all other notes with suspicion, and in fact classifying them as
Scottish! The Bank supplies Crosby
with Cumberland banknotes which are transported to him at their own risk, on
condition that surplus notes in the other direction are transported at Crosby’s risk. In 1847 the agency is put onto the new
footing of a sub-Branch to Penrith, and it is this date that we record as the
opening of Kirkby Thore. In these times a great deal of
banking business is carried out by agents, who offer the services of a larger
town or city bank to the traders and inhabitants of smaller towns and
villages. The agent usually agrees
terms with the bank which might include travel and/or subsistence costs, a
regular or annual wage, or a single payment for a set period of time. These arrangements are not without risk,
and the banks must choose their agents carefully to prevent losses from the
more unscrupulous types making off with the money! Mr Crosby is, fortunately, of good
standing, and the image on this page shows what remains of one of his own
cheques issued as a banker at Kirkby Thore.
Martins Bank’s sub branch is inherited from the merger of the Bank of
Liverpool with the Carlisle and Cumberland and survives until closure in
1932. Of the five sub branches to
Penrith, inherited by the Bank of Liverpool and eventually Martins Bank, four
are closed between 1932 and 1942, leaving only Penrith Auction Mart still
open at the time of the merger with Barclays. SOME DETAIL ADAPTED
FROM “FOUR CENTURIES OF BANKING” VOL II © MARTINS BANK LIMITED 1968 |
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