Plymouth, Banking

PLYMOUTH
DATA

The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History

BANKING

A Mr Thomas Smith, a cloth merchant, set up what is considered to be the first provincial banking concern at Nottingham during the 1650s. Throughout the early 1700s the number of banks outside of London grew but there were still very few in 1750.

Plymouth’s first bank, appropriately if unsurprisingly named the Plymouth Bank, was established in 1772 by Messrs Barings, Lee, Sellon and Tingcombe The premises were in Great Broad Street. It was followed the following year by the Naval Bank, in 1788 by Messrs Elford, Elford & Hartwell, and in 1790 by the Plymouth Dock Bank

The early years of the next century brought Messrs Hodge & Norman (1804), Messrs Symons, Saltau & Company in 1809, Messrs Husband & Company in 1810 and Messrs Hingston & Company’s General Bank in (1812). A new innovation was the Union Savings Bank (1818.

But trouble was brewing. In 1797 England was at war with France and Irish rebels were plotting with the French to invade the British Isles, and follow it up with an insurrection in Ireland. There was unrest among seamen at Spithead and a mutiny in the Thames estuary.

Private banks issued their own bank notes but many had insufficient back-up in gold. Furthermore, many of the deposits were small amounts paid in by the poorer people, who would be the first to panic if there was a banking crisis.

In the autumn of 1825 there was much disquiet throughout the land and on Tuesday September 27th there was a run on the bank of Messrs Prideaux and Company at Kingsbridge. They stopped making payments at 11am the following day.

By the evening of 28th the news had reached Plymouth and the following day there was tremendous pressure on banks in Plymouth and Devonport. At 3pm on Saturday October 1st the Plymouth Dock Bank, which had been founded in 1790, stopped making payments. It had been under the sturdy management of Mr Thomas Clinton Shiells and Mr Henry Incledon Johns but that did not prevent the collapse. Mr Shiells, a magistrate from Woodlands, near Ivybridge, died four days later, a broken man.

The Plymouth Bank, managed by Sir William Elford, Mr John Tingcombe and Mr John Were Clark, the Naval Bank, managed by Messrs Harris, Rosdew, Harris and Company, and the General Bank in Woolster Street, were also under pressure. In an effort to calm the situation, all the banks placed adverts in the “Devonshire Freeholder, and Plymouth, Devonport and West of England General Advertiser” on Saturday October 8th to thank account holders for trying to maintain confidence. In the case of the Plymouth Bank, it did not work and it had to close.

On Saturday November 26th and Sunday November 27th the remaining banks sent to the City of London for supplies of gold and in Lombard Street there was great activity as post-chaises were filled with gold and despatched to the provinces. But in Plymouth the Saturday had been market day and the people were only prepared to accept gold rather than the worthless paper money. Luckily, the days passed without major crisis and by Christmas confidence had been largely restored. New coins were being hastily minted and the Bank of England decided to restart issuing £1 and £2 notes. The post-chaises were once again loaded up and despatched to the provinces but this time with paper money.

Following the financial crash, by 1830 there were only five banks in Plymouth and Devonport:

Harris, Rosdew & Company T/A The Naval Bank, Whimple Street, drawing on Sir J W Lubbock & Company.

Hingston & Prideaux, Bedford Street, drawing on Barclay, Tritton & Company.

Hodge & Norman, 77 Fore Street, Devonport, drawing on Sir J W Lubbock & Company, London.

Husband & Company, 78 Fore Street, Devonport, drawing on Williams & Company, London.

Union Savings' Bank, Barrack Street, Devonport.

A direct result of 1825 crisis was the Banking Copartnership Act of 1826, which authorised the setting-up of joint stock companies. Unlike normal partnerships, in these companies the shareholders were free to sell their shares to other people without the consent of the remaining shareholders. Also, a shareholder holding, say, a 20% share in the company would receive 20% of the company’s profits but he would also be responsible for personally covering 20% of any debt should the company fail.

New banks came on the scene. The Plymouth and Devonport Banking Company was founded in 1832, taking over Messrs Symons, Saltau & Company, but was reconstituted in 1836 as the Devon and Cornwall Banking Company, when it took over Messrs Hingston & Company’s General Bank. The success of the Union Savings Bank at Devonport encouraged the Mayor of Plymouth and 59 other worthies to petition that Bank to open in Plymouth. The Union thought that Plymouth should have its own savings bank and declined. Instead, following a public meeting in the Guildhall in March 1837, it co-operated fully in setting up the Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank in their first premises at the corner of Cornwall and Frankfort Streets.

One of the shortest banks to survive was the Western District Banking Company, which started at Devonport in 1836 and was gone by 1844.

The National Provincial Bank of England was also founded at this time, in 1833, but unlike the other banks, its founder, Mr Thomas Joplin, intended it to be a national rather than a local enterprise. Within three years it had over twenty branches and arrived in Plymouth in 1839 when it took over Messrs Husband & Company’s Devonport General Bank.

The Bank of England extended its influence by opening a branch at Exeter but this was removed to Plymouth on May 1st 1843.

In 1850 the banks in Plymouth were:

Bank of England at Bank of England Place, Plymouth.

Bolitho, Williams, Foster, Coode, Grylls & Company Ltd, trading as the Consolidated Bank of Cornwall, at 19 Princess Square; Central Exchange, Whimple Street; 73 Fore Street, Devonport.

Devon & Cornwall Banking Co., at 32 Bedford Street, Plymouth, and 38 Fore Street, Devonport.

Devonport Bank at Fore Street, Devonport.

National Provincial Bank of England Co., at 40 Whimple Street and Fore Street, Devonport.

Naval Bank (as Harris, Mudge & Co) at 32 Whimple Street, Plymouth).

Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank at 8 Cornwall Street, Plymouth).

Union Savings Bank at 65 Chapel Street, Devonport.

Also in that year the Three Towns British Mutual Subscription Loan Society was founded, which in 1863/64 became the Three Towns Loan & Banking Company until it was taken over by the Devon & Cornwall in 1890.

In 1860 or 1862 the Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank moved to corner of Whimple Street and Buckwell Street.

For a short time from 1863 Plymouth had a branch of the London & South Western Bank. It had closed by 1873.

By 1890 the above establishments had been joined by the Cornish Bank at 73 George Street; the Plymouth & Penzance Bank (Messrs Batten, Carne & Carne) at 80 Old Town Street; and the Wilts & Dorset Banking Company Ltd at 57 George Street.

Some of the other Banks had moved premises. The Devon & Cornwall had moved its Devonport branch to 31 Fore Street, although this change may have been purely due to street renumbering. Messrs Bolitho, Williams, Foster, Goode, Grylls & Company Ltd amalgamated with the Devonport Bank.

The National Provincial Bank of England Ltd had moved to 72 George Street in Plymouth. The Naval Bank (Messrs Harris, Bulteel & Company) had evidently taken over adjacent premises at Whimple Street and were now occupier both 30 and 32 in addition to new branches at 5 Belgrave Terrace, Tavistock Road, Mutley, and 20 Edgecumbe Street, Stonehouse.

Finally, the Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank had moved from Cornwall Street to 40 Whimple Street.

Further changes took place between 1890 and 1897. New Banks included the Capital & Counties Bank Ltd at Whimple Street and 123 Fore Street, Devonport, drawing on head office; the Cheque Bank Ltd at 51 Bedford Street; the Cornish Bank, drawing on Messrs Smith, Payne & Smith) had opened a new branch at 28 Chapel Street, Stonehouse; the Devon & Cornwall, drawing on Messrs Barclay, Bevan & Company, had also opened a branch in Stonehouse, at 12 Edgecumbe Street, whilst also appointing agents at 9 Mutley Plain and at the Post Office in Saltash.

The National Provincial Bank of England Ltd was, of course, big enough to draw on its own head office and maintained its branches at 72 George Street and 24 Fore Street, Devonport. The Wilts & Dorset's 57 George Street now rejoiced in the title of Wilts & Dorset Bank Chambers and they were drawing on the London & Westminster Bank Ltd.

Messrs Bolitho and Company remained at their existing premises and were drawing on Messrs Williams, Deacon & Company.

In 1898 the Union Savings Bank opened a branch at Keyham, opposite the Dockyard gate.

At the beginning of the new century there were still few people with bank accounts. It was largely the preserve of professional people, business people and the gentry. The poorer population would have gone to the smaller Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank and Union Savings Bank to deposit their odd shilling or sixpence.

Two major events occurred in 1903. Barclays Bank Ltd appeared on the scene and took over Messrs Bolitho's premises at 19 Princess Square and 73 Fore Street, Devonport, where it also traded as the Consolidated Bank of Cornwall. The second was the opening of the Prudential Building on the corner of Frankfort and George Streets, into the ground floor of which moved the National Provincial Bank Ltd.

The Capital & Counties Bank took over the Cornish Bank's premises at 73 George Street and their branch in Chapel Street, Stonehouse, in addition to maintaining their old presence at Fore Street, Devonport (although it was now numbered 113 instead of 123). The Stonehouse branch was closed down in 1916.

Old Town Street was now the home of the Charing Cross Bank, which had presumably taken over the Plymouth & Penzance's premises but now renumbered 78. Another new business appeared at 13 Bedford Street, known as the Union of London & Smith's Bank.

By now the big London Banks were on the march and in 1906 Lloyds Bank Ltd took over the Devon & Cornwall Banking Company Ltd. By 1910 the London, City & Midland Bank had appeared, at 14 Bedford Street.

At the outbreak of the First World War, when financial pressures were again placed on the banking sector, Lloyds absorbed the remaining local concerns, the Naval Bank and the Wilts & Dorset. Indeed, Messrs Harris, Bulteel & Company's Naval Bank had stopped payments on August 22nd and the fact that it acted as the clearing bank for the Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank was expected to have a negative effect there, too. Luckily, it did not.

In 1923 the Surrey, Kent & Sussex Bank became the Westminster Bank and as such opened a branch at 21 Bedford Street. In the same year, the London, City & Midland Bank opened a branch at 99 Fore Street, Devonport.

After the end of World War One, Plymouth started to expand into the surrounding countryside and so too did the Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank. It opened a branch on Mutley Plain in 1928 and another at Dean's Cross, Plymstock, in 1931. It also moved, in 1934, into a plush new banking hall on the ground floor of the Prudential Building, right in the centre of Town. This had been vacated by the National Provincial, which took over the old Smith's Bank premises in George Street (or was it Bedford Street?). The Savings Bank followed that up in 1938 by opening a new branch at Prince Rock.

Meanwhile, the Union had opened a branch at Stonehouse in 1922. Two years later the Union joined with other savings banks in Cornwall to become the Union Trustee Savings Bank of Devonport and the County of Cornwall.

And so by 1935 Plymouth and Devonport had branches of four of the major five national clearing banks. The one that was missing, Martin's Bank Ltd, opened at 73 George Street, Plymouth, shortly afterwards.

The Second World War brought devastation to all three Towns, destroying much of the shopping centres and, with it, the Banks. Some survived,as they were usually built of more modern materials than the properties surrounding them. The Wilts & Dorset, later Lloyds', Bank Chambers still exist today as The Bank public house; the Westminster and National Provincial buildings in Bedford Street survived to be demolished later.

1945 saw the Union TSB open a branch at St Budeaux, while, in 1949, the Plymouth Savings Bank opened branches at Crownhill and Plympton. That same year saw the closure of the Bank of England branch in Plymouth, although the building remained in use by the Westminster Bank until 1957.

The Plymouth & South Devon Savings Bank had to move to temporary premises in York Street in 1951 and its neighbour, the Union Savings Bank, opened a new branch at Ford.

With the imminent take-over of the Devonport Town Centre by the Admiralty for an extension to the Dockyard, it became necessary to move the Union's head office from Chapel Street to a brand new building in Tavistock Road, Stoke. This took place in 1952, after which the Chapel Street premises became a branch office and remained open until October 18th 1954, when it was transferred to Fore Street.

On April 24th 1956 the Plymouth & South Devon opened its new head office at Derry's Cross. But then on May 21st 1959 the Plymouth Bank amalgamated with the Union Bank, which had several branches in Cornwall, and the business was renamed the Plymouth, Devonport & Cornwall Trustee Savings Bank. The head office remained at Derry's Cross.

Two amalgamations took place in 1968. Barclays took over Martins Bank and the National Provincial and Westminster Banks joined forces and became the National Westminster Bank.

The Co-operative Bank opened premises in Armada Way in 1977. In 1983 the 16 remaining local savings banks in England were amalgamated into the Trustee Savings Bank. The HongKong-Shanghai Banking Corporation took over the Midland Bank in 1992 and, finally, in 1995 the Trustee movement was absorbed by Lloyds to become Lloyds TSB.