11-863 Warrington Horsemarket Street

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A Branch at Warrington comes into the ownership of Martins Bank, through the amalgamation of the Bank of Liverpool and Martins and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank in 1928. These small but impressive premises are opened by the Lancashire and Yorkshire in 1874, and remain open as a bank for sixty-four years until 1937 when Martins Bank moves its branch to 78 BRIDGE STREET.

These are the days before governments have had the chance to interfere with county boundaries, and Warrington has not yet been made to hop across the border from Lancashire into Cheshire.

Our branch photograph comes from a 1922 L and Y Bank publication, and the above extract from Kelly’s Directory of Lancashire (1905), confirms the address of the Branch. Until the move to Bridge Street, Warrington is listed in the telephone directory simply as “L&Y Branch”, with no other address details. The phone number is simply – 589 – how exclusive that would be in these days of ever longer ones!

In Service: December 1874 until Saturday 29 May 1937

Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections – W Noel Townson

Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections – Alan Jones

Our thanks to Barclays Group Archives for looking on our behalf into Martins Bank’s premises register, which reveals that the Branch at 34/36 Horsemarket Street is acquired by Warrington Corporation for the purposes of street widening. Martins Bank’s new Branch is erected by the bank on the corner of Bridge Street and Rylands Street, and is opened for business on Monday 31 May 1937.

This cheque, issued in 1925 was drawn by the paternal grandfather of Alan Jones, and Alan has donated the cheque to the Archive. The cheque is payable to his younger brother Brian, who is actually only a couple of months when the cheque is written! It is good to see the habit of saving being instilled into one so young, even if he wasn’t aware of it at the time!

Now to this wonderful image of the interior of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank, Warrington Horsemarket Street, as it looked in September 1906. The inset image is of the incumbent Manager, Mr Fred William Gilbert, who strikes both a dapper, but serious pose! The photograph comes from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank Club Magazine, a staff publication which here pre-dates the first issue of Martins Bank Magazine by FORTY years! Looking through the pages of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Club Magazine, it is clear that Martins Bank’s own staff publication owes a lot to this pioneering publication, in terms both of content and of layout. It is wonderful to have such a complete piece of history - which is more than 100 years old - in our collection.

Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections – Alan Jones

The Magazine also prints a description of the Branch and provides details of the career of Mr Gilbert, who is described as “popular”…

As a frontispiece to the present number of the Magazine we have pleasure in reproducing a view of the interior of the Bank's new office at Warrington, inset with a medallion photograph of Mr. F. W. Gilbert, the popular Manager of the Branch. Opened in 1874, Warrington is one of the oldest branches, and the present handsome edifice has been erected on the site of the old premises, which were demolished last year. The new building is a fine example of Renaissance architecture, and has an imposing appearance, the first storey being of polished dark red granite and the second of Portland stone. The walls of the banking chamber (which is at the rear of the building, the manager's room being to the front) are panelled seven feet high with polished Spanish mahogany. Our photograph was taken from the vestibule at the entrance to the Bank, and affords a good idea of the general appearance and design of the office, which is well lighted from the arched roof. The floor in front of the counter is laid with black and white marble squares. The new office was formally opened a few weeks ago by Colonel Walker, the Deputy-Chairman of the Bank. The business was carried on in temporary premises during rebuilding operations. Mr. Gilbert, who is well known and respected in Warrington, has held the position of Manager there for nearly twenty years, his appointment dating from 2nd November, 1886. Born at Nantwich, he entered the service of the Bank in 1873, and for thirteen years occupied various posts in the Head Office—in those days No. 73, King Street.