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 On 1 November 1968 Martins
Bank Limited becomes one of the Barclays Group of Companies – a status
maintained until close of Business on Friday 12 December 1969. The following Monday, 730 branches of the
bank will open their doors under the name of Barclays. As we find ourselves in times tinged with
the sadness of the closure of hundreds of Bank Branches, including those that
are former Martins Bank Branches, we
really do appreciate the continued
support of our ever increasing band of loyal visitors and contributors. There are now fewer than 80 Branches of
Martins Bank still open, and to mark their passing, our Branch Watch feature
now includes a separate page featuring details of THE LAST 64 BRANCHES . Our most recent news
stories are shown below, and you can catch up with some previous stories
in-depth, by downloading our half-yearly Newsletters (see above). Don’t forget to visit our sister site -
Lewis’s Bank Archive - which tells the story of Britain’s department store
bank for the nine years that it was a subsidiary of Martins Bank. Click HERE to
visit the Lewis’s Bank Archive web site (opens in a new window).
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Branches Opened in July
. . .
July
is a busy month in the history of Martins Bank, with a total of 42 new
branches being opened down the years by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank,
the Bank of Liverpool and Martins, and/or the many constituent banks which
become Martins Bank Limited in 1928.
Here is the full list of those July Branches…
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01 July
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1872
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Consett
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1922
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Berwick
upon Tweed Corn Exchange
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1922
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Throckley
(Field House)
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1922
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Welling
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1923
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South
Shields Harton
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1924
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Sunderland
Hendon
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1936
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London
Kensington High Street
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1942
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Oxford
Carfax
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1953
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Rugby
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1954
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London
Brompton Road
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1963
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Northallerton
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02 July
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1888
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Liverpool
Woolton
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1927
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Hull
Newland
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03 July
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1922
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Helsby
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1933
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London
Southall
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1968
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Chichester
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05 July
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1938
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Warsash
(Southampton)
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06 July
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1950
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Portsmouth
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08 July
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1898
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Middlesbrough
Newport Road
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1924
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Bamburgh
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1898
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North
Ormesby
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10 July
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1882
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Whitefield
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1939
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Liverpool
Booker Avenue
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11 July
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1927
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Wallasey
Poulton Road
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11 July
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1939
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Northampton
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13 July
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1905
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Alnmouth
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15 July
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1937
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London
Fenchurch Street
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1965
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Washington
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16 July
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1936
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Tunbridge
Wells
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17 July
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1947
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Wrexham
Trading Estate
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18 July
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1895
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Sedgefield
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1938
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Worthing
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19 July
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1946
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London
Holborn
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1962
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Birmingham
Holloway Circus
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21 July
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1924
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Leeds
Headingley
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23 July
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1962
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London
Marylebone Road
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25 July
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1961
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Billingham
Queensway
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26 July
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1948
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Stafford
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29 July
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1887
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Heywood
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30 July
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1906
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Wallasey
Liscard
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1923
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Bare
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31 July
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1967
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Poulton
le Fylde
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 You can of course visit any
of these branches by launching our BRANCHES A TO Z page. Here (right) we have the
local newspaper advertisement for the opening of the Bank of Liverpool and
Martins new sub-branch at HELSBY, Cheshire, near to the Wirral Peninsula. The doors opened for the first time on
3 July 1922, and for the final time on 15 January 1993, after more than
seventy years of service. It might
come as something of a surprise – or indeed a sobering thought – that only ONE of these forty-two branches
is still open today, and that is Northampton The Drapery! Here in July 2020 Northampton is still
managing to open for a full six day banking week. Later in the month we’ll
take a look at the branches that were closed or transferred to new premises
in the month of July.
More Branch closures…
Of the many BRANCH
CLOSURES announced
by Barclays up to 7 June 2020, TEN are Martins Branches, which have or will
disappear from the high street between mid-April and mid-June. Those deemed
no longer viable are LIVERPOOL Speke and hunts Cross,
closing 17 April, MORECAMBE Euston Road, 7 May, CLECKHEATON and also HYDE on 29 May, BRIGHOUSE on 5 June, FOREST HALL, HALIFAX King Cross and SWINTON on 12 June, and JARROW and SUNDERLAND CHESTER ROAD on 19 June You can use the branch closures link above
to see lists of all Martins Branches closed since 2007, and then you can
click on any of them to visit the relevant pages of the Archive for those
branches.As ever, our thanks go to those members of the staff of Martins and
Barclays Banks past and present, who have served these communities down the
years.
From World War to Pandemic…
 Much of the World is still
working round the clock to beat the effects of the Covid 19 virus, and to
bring it under some kind of control. We wish good health and happiness to all
our visitors, and to the many hundreds of thousands of health workers,
carers, volunteers and key workers, we offer admiration and gratitude. May 2020 marks the seventy-fifth
anniversary of Victory in Europe, and despite the people of Britain once more
having to show restraint, courage, resolve and fortitude in the face of an
invisible enemy, people of all ages and from all over this country showed
their respect and gratitude to the generation that fought so hard to bring
peace to Europe. For our spring/Summer
Newsletter, we have selected a number of stories which represent the
involvement of Martins Bank and its predecessors, and the roles of the Bank’s
staff in wartime.
The First World War brings us
stories of courage and promotion, a member of staff wounded but safe in
hospital, and the sadness and poignancy of a letter of condolence following
the loss of a young soldier. From records of the Second World War, we look
again at the key role played by the Bank in looking after some of Britain’s
reserves of gold, and we look at two patriotic advertisements for the Bank,
aimed at re-starting trade with the rest of the World. We take a trip to the Lake District where a
very special building is equipped as a kind of “haven” for staff who need a
break from the horrors of war – the Ambleside Rest House, an asset prized by
Staff and their families. Using information
held within the Martins Bank Staff Database, we examine the Bank’s decision
to employ a large number of its female staff to be Managers (in all but name)
of Branches whilst the male staff were away fighting for King and
Country. We look at the Branches which
were damaged, or destroyed by enemy acgtion, including the devastation at
Exeter – a branch that had only been open for three years – bombed in the
infamous Baedecker Air Raids of April 1942. We meet a polymath with a
top-secret role, and glimpse the Bank’s preparations for “business as
usual”. We pause to reflect on the
efforts of some who worked for, or fought and died to create, a better future
for us all, and finally as the World picks up the pieces, the Bank looks to a
new future and the prospect of the 1948 London Olympic Games. Click on the image shown here (right) to
read and/or download the newsletter.
I liked the Bank so much, I bought it!
  At a time when so many former
bank branch buildings are standing empty and neglected, it is wonderful to
see that our branch at GRANGE OVER SANDS has one new extremely happy
owner, David Phelan. David contacted
us having successfully bid at auction for this fabulous old building, which
he is keen both to sympathetically restore and to re-purpose as living space. The original business at Grange was
transacted in 1876 by the Kendal Bank, who often used agents to act on their
behalf to run a banking service in return for a commission of some kind. Such
arrangements were not without risk, and the bank had to choose an
Agent-Manager very carefully in order to prevent losses from the more
“unscrupulous types” making off with the money. This was indeed a real threat
- in 1929, a little further down the Furness Peninsula at Dalton in Furness,
the Manager William Griffin was dismissed on FIFTY counts of forgery.
Business having grown nicely at Grange, the Bank of Liverpool – which
absorbed the Kendal Bank in 1893 decided that permanent premises would be
taken at Grange over Sands, and banking continued there until May 2019. We
would like to wish David Phelan every success with his enviable project, and
look forward to updates as work progresses.
Treasure trove!
 We
are indebted to Brian Brown who has uncovered “buried  treasure” in his late
father’s papers – not one, but TWO photographs of the tiny Martins Bank front
room sub Branch at KIRKBY IN FURNESS, which was closed in
1956. Photographs of most of the
smaller sub branches are not held in the collection of branch photographs
inherited from Martins Bank by Barclays at the time of the merger in 1969. Suddenly, within a period of less than twelve
months, photographs of THREE of these small offices (AND an internal photo of a
larger branch – ELLESMERE PORT Station Road – with no previous
images being held) have been found.
The sub Branch at OTFORD Kent, and DALSTON Carlisle, were featured here
last year, and in each of those photographs a member of the staff was also
featured. In the case of Kirkby in Furness, we have a true link with “Dad’s
Army”, as the gentleman in home guard uniform in the middle of the picture
also ran the sub branch himself! There
is added historical interest to the Kirkby in furness images, as they feature
between them four members of the family, who lived in the same house, a house
that doubled as a branch of the Bank.
After finding the images, Brian Brown told us:
“I
am using the spare time I have at the moment to go through old paperwork and
came across these old photos belonging to my late Dad. The two photos are of
the house he grew up in. All of the four people in the photos are my family.
The young man on the left in uniform is Ben Wilson, my nana's younger
brother. He went off to the Far East to fight eventually. In the middle is
Fred Wilson, my great granddad alongside his wife Ellen Wilson (nee Woodend).
He fought in the Great War and was in the Home Guard in WWII. My mother remembers it was Mrs Wilson who
looked after the sub Branch, and that Fred Wilson was the village cobbler.
She says that Ellen used to sit at a table with a ledger, doing the books at
No 2 Herschell Terrace, Kirkby in Furness, Lancashire (now Cumbria). The toddler in the bottom right corner is
my dad, Fred Brown. He was born in 1939, so I would guess this photo was
taken in 1941. They all lived in the one small house, which was also a bank!
I can remember visiting this house to visit my nanna and great grandparents.
The house was just a house at this stage (late 1960s). The smaller sign was
still there when my nana moved out in the 70s, but has since disappeared.”
Another mystery to solve…
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A mystery branch – but where is it?
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Once
again we have stumbled across a mystery branch of Martins Bank. This recently acquired photograph (LEFT) which appears to have
been taken in the 1940s or 50s shows quite clearly that a temporary branch
has been opened on this busy looking street of shops, but that it just
about all we have to go on. It was of course common for Martins either to
arrive in a new town with a temporary branch, whilst permanent premises
were being finalised, built or altered for the purpose of banking.
Temporary branches were also used when an existing branch needed to be
given a complete makeover or demolished and rebuilt.
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56 Fawcett St Sunderland 1963
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The
smaller photograph here (RIGHT) shows such a branch, emblazened with the
words “Temporary Premises” at Sunderland Fawcett Street in the early 1960s.
Our mystery branch appears to have a tobacconist shop on one side and some
kind of clothing shop on the other. That’s all we know for now, so if you
can help us track down the location, please do get in touch at the usual
address: gutinfo@btinternet.com
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Signing Off in Style…
We never cease to be amazed
at the lengths of service that some Martins Bank employees achieved. Even by
1969 some were retiring with more than FORTY-FIVE years under their belt. One
or two even achieved FIFTY or more years.
In recent decades we have become used to people in the workplace being
“portable” – that is they take their skills from job to job, staying for a
few years before moving on, building their knowledge and experience
accordingly. Martins Bank employees
however, really knew the meaning of “a job for life”. The Archive holds a number of the special
retirement souvenir books that were given to some colleagues when they hung
up their banking clothes for the last time.
Typically, these books are specially bound and great trouble was taken
to show the love and respect colleagues had for one another.
Inside, the pages are filled
with the autographs of just about everyone that the retiring colleague worked
with during a long career. It seems something
of a lost opportunity, that messages and memories were not also recorded
alongside the signatures. Perhaps with
the Bank’s mantra of “going to extremes” in mind, one book even has everyone
signing in ALPHABETICAL ORDER! What
makes these retirement books of extra interest to the Archive, is that they
provide the opportunity to enrich the detail held in the Martins Bank Staff
Database. Many of the autographs include forenames, and this is especially
good news for records of the female staff, for whom we are always working
hard to find information about their careers in order to produce a more
meaningful career summary. Once again
it is the attention to detail inherant in Martins Bank’s Staff which has
yielded dividends today for those who want to research the lives and careers
of relatives who worked for the bank.
Martins Staff Databasa is not held online. If you would like details
of your own career, or that of a relative, please contact Martins Bank
Archive at the usual address – gutinfo@btinternet.com
.
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The Anniversary Lunches…
 As 2020
arrived, we noted with pride that although FIFTY years have
passed since the merger of Martins with Barclays Bank, at the end of 2019
literally HUNDREDS
of
former Martins Colleagues attended one or more of the many anniversary
lunches arranged in the former districts of the Bank – Birmingham, Craven/Leeds
(Ilkley), Liverpool, London Manchester and Preston. The Grasshopper Club
has published these special newsletters, covering the various lunches,
those who attended, and messages from those who could not attend. The first of these is the Club’s Spring
2020 Newsletter, which has extensive coverage of the Liverpool and London
lunches, complete with photos and comment.
The second is a supplementary newsletter issued to mark the other
regional lunches, and the memories of merger day itself from some of the
staff who were there.
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LIVERPOOL AND LONDON LUNCHES
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REGIONAL LUNCHES SUPPLEMENT
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There
has also been a surge of interest in membership of the Grasshopper
Pensioners’ Club, especially from guests at the lunches where a special
display of items from the Archive was provided. The Club is now a NATIONAL
body, recognised by Barclays, and application for lifetime membership can
be made from the Grasshoppers’ Club News page HERE.
At, and in the period leading up to the Anniversary Lunches, the Club’s
commemorative fundraising items were also eagerly anticipated and
purchased, the cocktail coasters made from ancient Welsh Slate being
particularly well received. On 16
December 2019, the atmosphere across two floors of the Racquet Club Hotel
Liverpool was certainly convivial, amongst the large number of colleagues
who were able to make it to the dinner whose setting was, poignantly, a
mere stone’s throw away from Martins Bank’s fabulous HEAD OFFICE Building.
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Buyer Beware…
We have left the following article here once again for reference, to
help explain the position regarding the theft of copyrighted images for the
purposes of re-sale. There is a common misconception that if you
can Google an image, then it is “in the public domain” and you can do what
you want with it. Even some staff at eBay® believed this until they were
recently put right – if you take or
copy someone else’s work or property without their permission or
acknowledgement, and sell it on to
make even a penny out of it, this is breach of copyright, and the real
owner can take legal recourse to stop further theft and misuse of their
property. There are currently on eBay® a number of listings
of photographs for sale, showing scenes from the past and old buildings
including these four (and many more) Branches of Martins Bank. These images originated on our web site. As you can see, under our agreement with
the owner, we prominently display copyright. These images have been copied
and printed onto cheap photographic paper. The seller even has the gall to
add their own watermark to the displayed images to prevent others from
stealing them!!!
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STAINLAND
Image ©
Barclays
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SITTINGBOURNE
Image
created by Martins Bank
Archive
and © Barclays
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BURTON
UPON TRENT
Image ©
Barclays
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WALLASEY
Image ©
Barclays
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As well as
being against copyright law, these items are worthless, having little more
than sentimental value – you will often find that collections and archives
will make images available free of charge for private use, but you MUST check
with them first. You should always check the seller’s right to copy the image
– reputable sites such as eBay® do now allow you to report copyright
infringement. For ANY item of memorabilia, the best thing to do is shop
around and compare prices – in the case of Martins Bank there are often up to
twenty different items for sale on eBay® alone on any given day. For printed
material which looks as if it has been copied, or actually claims to be a
copy, ALWAYS question the seller about copyright.
Best Regards, Jonathan.
Westmorland, Tuesday 30 June
2020
WHILST
MARTINS BANK ARCHIVE HAS NO CONNECTION WITH THE DAY TO DAY TRADING ACTIVITIES
OF THE
BARCLAYS
GROUP OF COMPANIES, WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THE CONTINUED GENEROUS GUIDANCE,
ADVICE
AND
SUPPORT OF BARCLAYS GROUP ARCHIVES IN THE BUILDING AND SHAPING OF THIS ONLINE
SOCIAL HISTORY.
 R
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