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  WELCOME to Martins Bank
Archive, and to MARTINS
BANK MAGAZINE -
our news feature in honour of the Bank’s staff publication, which from 1946
to 1969 brought news of changing times, new Branches and services and even
new technologies to those working in branches and departments in England
Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. From Drive-In Branches to
computers and the Cash Dispenser, it seems that Martins Bank has it all,
yet on 1 November 1968, it becomes just one more of the Barclays Group of
Companies. This status is maintained only until close of Business on Friday
12 December 1969, as from the following Monday, 730 branches of the bank
will open their doors under the name of Barclays.
A significant Anniversary is almost upon us…
 As April 2025 arrives, there is only a month to go before the
eightieth Anniversary of the end of the Second World War. As the 8 th of May approaches, we will be
adding more war stories to our FACEBOOK® page. Thanks to a long departed member of staff
of Martins Bank’s Branch at Walsall, we have an almost complete set of Head
Office Circulars covering early 1940 to late 1945. This section of the Archive is a valuable
mirror of British Social History, as among the various instructions to
“batten down the hatches”, bombings of some branches, mothballing of
others, the introduction of Women Bank Managers, and an ever increasing
list of countries NOT to be dealt with financially, we see the effects of
the increased demands of the Kennet Committee, deciding who should be
released from previously reserved occupations, to be sent to war. We also see how the Bank tried its utmost
to look after its staff, how special grants and bonuses were paid to help
keep them fed and clothed, and towards the end of the war, there is the
everyday “housekeeping” of removing black-out blinds, re-opening branches,
and getting business back to normal once more. For 2025, we are going to
look at these Head Office Circulars once again, and with the help of our
good friends at the British Newspaper Archive, we will continue to bring
you stories from the war, which illustrate how people who worked for the
Bank were affected by upheaval and change.
Branches opened in 1965…
In the
swinging 1960s, banks in all parts of the United Kingdom opened new
branches like there was no tomorrow!
It seems a strange concept indeed to us in the twenty-first century
to think of any bank opening a new branch, but sixty years ago, we were not
quite at the stage where computers would begin to take over in the way that
they eventually did, leaving thousands of bank branches closed, and the use
of cash for everyday transactions significantly diminished. The following Branches were opened in
1965, so why not visit them and marvel, as that most fantastic of all bank
services – the branch – comes to town in so many places!
… and sadly, a branch closing in 2025…
When Cockermouth closes on 4 April 2025,
the number of original Martins Bank Branches left open will reduce to just
SEVEN. A sobering thought indeed. Our BRANCH
CLOSURES feature has now been
extended, so that you can look right back to the 1969 Merger of Barclays
with Martins, and follow the closures of branches year by year – the first
section covers 1969 to 2008, and the second section shows the branches that
have been closed whilst we have been online – that is from 2009 right up to
date.
 
Branches from A to Z
We have now relaunched our BRANCHES A TO Z page, to enhance the experience of browsing our portfolio
of just over 1000 buildings in use between 1928 and 1969 as Branches of
Martins Bank. The new menus include,
wherever possible, images of buildings, to guide you as you search out
branch pages that take your fancy.
More relevance has been placed on the origins of some branches which
came from among the many constituent Banks that at one time or other were
merged, taken over, or amalgamated into what became the modern day Martins
Bank.
We are sure you will enjoy your journey around Martins Bank’s
Branches. Please note that the
Branches by District sections have now been removed from the web site. You
will however, still be able to visit individual District Offices and their
departments.
Important News about the Martins Bank Staff
Database
 We would like to draw your attention to the completion of the first
major phase of the Martins Bank Staff Database. The career details of more than 25,000
member of the Staff of martins Bank Limited, have been put together from
the information published by Martins Bank in its magazine and other
publications, and this has been in the public domain for at least
fifty-five years. It is vital that surviving members of Martins Bank’s
staff have the opportunity to see the career details held for them, and to
understand about how and why the database exists as a social history
resource that seeks to preserve the name of Martins Bank for the interest
of future generations.
Please CLICK
HERE or on the image of
the NEWS RELEASE pictured (left) to
obtain this information, and if, once you have read it, you would like to
receive your career details, please do get in touch with the archive by
email at the following address: martinsbankarchive@btinternet.com. If you are the relative of a deceased
member of the staff and would like to obtain details of their career –
perhaps as part of family tree research, please contact Martins Bank
Archive at the same address.
Banking on trust…
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 Formed from the existing
trustee and investment business of Martins Bank, which dated back to 1908
when the Bank of Liverpool first opened a trustee department, Martins
Bank Trust Company Limited brought together a number of servies which had
been key earners for the bank in the various parts of the country where
there was either a Trustee Office, an Income Tax Department, or both.
By the late 1960s,
notwithstanding the search for another bank with with to merge, Martins
Bank aquired a number of smaller specialist companies as subsidiaries,
each of which specialised in financial services, that would enable the
Bank to spread its interests, provide a more comprehensive offering to
the customer AND
that
would profit the Bank, by retaining those customers might have gone
elsewhere for these services.
Thanks to the Denis
Maxwell Collection, our Archive now has insight into these companies, as
well as the merger processes that began as early as 1961 and continued on
and off until the merger with Barclays.
When you visit our TRUSTEE AND INVESTMENT SERVICES feature page, you will
now find more detailed information than we have previously offered for
the following:
·
Dillon Walker
& Co
·
Griffin Assurance
·
Martins
Unicorn
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Martins Bank (Finance)
Limited
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I bought the Bank
(continued)…
 We are always delighted to
hear from friend of the Archive David Phelan, who featured on this site a
few years ago when he purchased the former Martins Bank Branch at
Grange-over-Sands following its permanent closure on 1 May 2019. He has
turned it not only into a beautiful and comfortable home, but has also
collected appropriate banking memorabilia with which to furnish and
decorate it.
David is of course very
interested in the history of the building, and always on the lookout for
period pictures. This lovely image (right) of the branch in its days as the
Bank of Liverpool Ltd, is one of those acquisitions, and we are always
grateful for David’s input to our own Archive. Many people down the years
have wondered if Grange-over-Sands branch was originally some kind of
chapel or even a church, but no, it was built this way as a bank.
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Images © Martins Bank Archive Collections – D T
Phelan
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