PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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UNION SAVINGS BANK On April 21st 1818 a Susanna Wheldale, mantua maker, of 4 Marlborough Row, Plymouth Dock, opened the first account at the new Union Savings Bank in a room in Duke Street. She deposited one shilling. The Bank was run by a small group of local gentlemen who were very interested in promoting thrift. It soon had to move in to larger accommodation. What was officially known as 'The Union Savings Bank for Dock, Stonehouse, Kingsand, Cawsand, Millbrook, Torpoint, Saltash, St Budeaux, Tamerton and the Neighbourhood' was in one room of a house at the back of St Aubyn Street. The rent was £15 a year. By the end of that first year deposits totalled £26,595, and accounts were held by 841 individuals, 23 friendly societies and one charitable institution. Many of its customers came from Plymouth. In 1828 the Bank moved into its own premises in Chapel Street. During the financial year ended on November 20th 1859 it had received £73,346 17s 4d in deposits and 1,256 new accounts had been opened. On January 1st 1898 it opened a new branch at Keyham, immediately outside the St Levan's Road Dockyard gate. A second branch was opened in 1922 at Stonehouse, but it was only open on a part-time basis until proper premises could be found. This they succeeded in doing in 1926 in Union Street. When in 1924 the Bank took over the Savings Banks at Falmouth and Camborne it was renamed the Union Trustee Savings Bank of Devonport and the County of Cornwall. By 1929 the Bank had 26,096 accounts and deposits of £1,560,040. During the Second World War the branch at Keyham was destroyed and the head office in Chapel Street was damaged but managed to stay open. New branches were opened at St Budeaux in 1945 and at Ford in 1951. When the Admiralty took over the old centre of Devonport the head office was moved from Chapel Street to new premises in Tavistock Road, Stoke, which were opened by Sir Kenneth Stewart, the chairman of the Trustee Savings Bank Association, in 1952. The premises in Chapel Street remained as a branch office until it finally closed on October 18th 1954. Following a meeting on October 24th 1958 between representatives of the Union Savings Bank and the Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank, it was agreed on May 21st 1959 to merge them into the Plymouth, Devonport & Cornwall Trustee Savings Bank.
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