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We are grateful to our friends at the Francis Frith
Collection for this splendid image of Martins Bank’s Cross Hills Branch.
Famous for the amazing foresight of Francis Frith in taking pictures of
everyday life, the Frith Collection offers a fascinating look at how we used
to live, through an enormous number of images from all over Britain and
abroad
The Bank’s Branch at Cross Hills has a distinguished
record of service – around 150 years and still counting, as Barclays continues
to trade there in the twenty-first century.
Despite the closure of Branch Banks all over the United Kingdom, many
of the original branches of the Craven Bank that passed first to the Bank of
Liverpool and later to Martins Bank and Barclays, are still at the heart of
their local communities today. For how
much longer this will continue, no-one can be certain, but Branches today are
run on a “use it or lose it” basis! |
In Service: Pre 1906 until
Friday 17 November 2017
Image ©
1965 The Francis Frith Collection www.francisfrith.com
Ref C278037 used here under licence
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Later on this page, we look at the double retirement of
two members of the Cross Hills staff, and there is also the story from 1964
of an attempted robbery worthy of something from “Inspector George Gently”,
but first the following extract adapted from FOUR CENTURIES
OF BANKING Vol II (© MARTINS BANK LIMITED
1968) gives a flavour of the long history of the Craven Bank. You can read more in our historical feature
THE BANKS THAT BUILT MARTINS.
All
change at the Craven Bank
{The 1800s sees
several different partnerships in charge of the Craven Bank. When the last of these comes to an end in
1880, it is decided to incorporate the bank as the Craven Bank Limited. The Head Office is moved from Settle to
Skipton, and the authorised capital of the bank increased to Ł1.2m. Branches established by this point in the
Craven’s history can be found at SKIPTON, (with sub branches at Barnoldswick
and Gisburn), Settle, (with a sub branch at Long Preston), Keighley, (with
sub branches at Bradford Cross Hills Haworth Denholme and Silsden), Ilkley,
Burnley (with sub branches at Nelson and Padiham), Clitheroe, and Colne.}
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Image ©
1965 The Francis Frith Collection www.francisfrith.com Ref C278037
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Cross Hills Interior as Barclays ca. 1970 Image
© Barclays Ref 30-0764 |
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A Double Retirement
Mr H. D. CLOUGH and Mr G. M. PETTY the end of
an era came to Keighley on the last day of May with the retirement of Harry
Clough and George Petty; apart from their war service they had completed more
than 66 years' continuous service at the branch and its sub branch, Cross
Hills. At the time of their retirement Mr Clough was Assistant Manager at
Keighley and Mr Petty, Clerk-in-Charge at Cross Hills. At their request there were no speeches at the joint
ceremony which took place at Keighley branch on May 17th but Mr I. Buchanan
(Liverpool District General Manager) was there to make the presentations on
behalf of subscribers of a pair of silver candelabra to Mr Clough and a
silver hors d'oeuvres dish to Mr Petty.
He also brought with him the good wishes
of the General Management. Both Mrs Clough and Mrs
Petty were at the party and each was presented with a bouquet. Mr Clough
joined the Keighley staff in 1928 after ten years at Burnley branch and was
appointed Pro Manager in 1948 and Assistant Manager in 1960. Mr Petty entered
the Bank at Otley in 1919 and served at llkley, Head Office and Birkenhead
before his move to Keighley in 1932. His appointment as Clerk-in-Charge at
Cross Hills came in 1946.
Mr H D Clough Mr G M Petty |
Dicing with death at Cross Hills!
This sobering story comes from September 1964, when a
desperate young man, not satified with owning THREE guns, kidnaps two young
girls and makes a terrifying but ultimately cowardly attempt to extort money
from Martins Bank at Cross Hills. our thanks go as ever to our friends at the
British Newspaper Archive, without whose amazing work we might never have
found this and countless other stories and advertisements relating to our
Bank. If you think the plots of some of today’s TV dramas set in the 1960s
might be a little far fetched, then perhaps you should think again!
Extract from The Birmingham Post 15 September 1964 Newspaper Image ©
LocalWorld/Trinity Mirror Image created courtesy
of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD Image reproduced with
kind permission of The
British Newspaper Archive |
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