11-85-80 Birkenhead Upton

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Bank of Liverpool and Martins

Upton is another of Martins Bank’s many branches on the Wirral Peninsula, a beautiful part of Cheshire much of which will eventually be swallowed up by the sprawling ubiquitous dominence of “Merseyside”. An original branch of the Cattle Trade Bank, Upton comes to the Bank of Liverpool and Martins by amalgamation in 1923. The lovely hanging sign, depicting Martins Bank’s Coat of Arms, is fixed to the left hand wall of this corner-aspect branch. For most of its Martins life, Upton is a self accounting sub-branch to Claughton Village Branch. However, just before the merger with Barclays in 1969, it is given full branch status, and its own manager.

In Service: 28 May 1923 until Friday 29 June 2018

Branch Images © Barclays Ref 0030-3013

From Martins Bank Archive Collections, comes this Upton cheque from the 1960s – ready for the age of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, a system pioneered by Martins Bank, which revolutionised banking for the rest of the Twentieth Century. With no official visit to Upton by Martins Bank Magazine, we turn instead to the Autumn 1960 edition to read about the retirement of Mr S T Rees, who has been Clerk in Charge at Upton since 1947.

1960 03 MBM.jpg 1947 to 1960 Mr S T Rees Clerk in Charge MBM-Wi60P50.jpg The retirement of Mr. S. T. Rees at the end of October after 40 years' service was the occasion of a gathering of such a large number of friends and colleagues that the presentation and subsequent celebrations had to be arranged at a nearby hostelry. Mr. P. J. Randle opened the proceedings and after appreciative references to Mr. Rees he called upon Mr. N. N. Jobling, Liverpool District General Manager, to make the presentation.

1960 s Upton Interior BGA Ref 30-3013 In his usual kindly and gracious way Mr. Jobling referred to Mr. Rees's work for the Bank and to his great capacity for making friends. He mentioned the fact that Mr. Rees had chosen a lady from the staff to be his wife and we were all very pleased that she was able to be present. He then made the presentation on behalf of the subscribers of a nest of tables and an exposure meter.

A bouquet was handed to Mrs. Rees by Miss C. A. Jones. After Mr. Rees had thanked everybody the gathering settled down to a pleasant little party. Mr. Rees commenced his business life with Messrs. Felling Stanley and entered the Bank in 1920. In the course of his career he served at Charing Cross, Bootle, Liverpool City Office, Hoylake, Birkenhead, Heswall, on the Relief staff, and in Income Tax Department, H. O. He was appointed Clerk-in-Charge at Upton branch in 1947.

Upton does not seem to have changed very much in more than ninety years, and is one of Martins few remaining original branches on the Wirral Peninsula to be serving customers in the twenty-first Century. Robert montgomery began to photograph british bank branches in 2009, by which time a policy of branch closures had set-in and was beginning to accelerate. This colour image of Birkenhead’s Upton Branch was taken on 6 August 2011, and permanent closure for this branch came at Noon on 29 June 2018…

Image © Barclays Ref 0030-3013

Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections – Robert Montgomery



*Mr F H Clayton* *On the Staff* *1938 to 1939*	*Mr E E Betenson* *Clerk in Charge* *1938 to 1942*	*Mr L D Tunna* *On the Staff* *1942 to 1943*	*Mr S T Rees* *Clerk in Charge* *1947 to 1960*	*Mr P J Randle* *On the Staff* *1960*	*Mr C W Allan* *Clerk in Charge* *1960 to 1966*



*Mr I R Brander* *Clerk in Charge* *1966 to 1968*	*Mr K T Crowden* *Clerk in Charge 1968* *Manager 1969 onwards*