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 It
is the contributions of the people who were there, and of those such as
Barclays Group Archives, who like ourselves preserve the records of Martins
Bank, for which we are so indebted.
This valuable mixture of input keeps our visitors from around the
World coming back for more and more nostalgia as they look through our 1200
pages at the way life was lived and worked between 1928 and 1969 – one of the
most changeable periods in modern history.
So it is definitely NOT just about a bank, it is much more of a window
on those times when the word BANK meant safety, stability – reliability, and
represented a place where your face was known and your finances were kept in
check by human beings whose only “excessive bonus” was £10 at Christmas if
they were lucky! The second decade of
the 21ST Century has sounded the death knell of Branch Banking, as we switch
from needing human contact to using our online devices to move money
instantly to anywhere on the planet. This makes remembering those who made
all this possible an ever more important duty, and one which we will always
take seriously. Martins Bank Archive exists to
advance the education of British social history related to aspects of banking
practices and technologies, and those who offered and used them in the
1960s. We identify and evaluate in
particular, records and artefacts relating to Martins Bank Limited, including
its former incarnations and its constituent banks, which will be of use to
current and future researchers,
acquiring such items for the archive and organising procedures and
systems for their storage and preservation.
Martins Bank Archive is a voluntary venture, and does not profit or
seek to profit in any way from the display or other use of the images and
other items in its possession, and every effort is made to establish and
declare their ownership. Contributors
and copyright holders are prominently acknowledged. 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 ongoing and generous guidance, advice and support
of BARCLAYS GROUP ARCHIVES in the
building and shaping of this online social history. We wouldn’t say we were
“ahead of our time”, but this extract
from the Editorial of Martins Bank Magazine’s Summer 1963 Edition seems
particularely pertitent to our aims as an archive…
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 Somewhere,
a long way back, someone said 'Hats off to the past! Coats off to the
future!' and we doubt whether anyone could better that. Our Bank is still
small enough, thank heaven, for those in it to be seen and known personally
by a great many people, yet it is big enough to stand alone. Gresham's
grasshopper still has a proud place on our coat of arms and the liver bird
has never felt inclined to drop his seaweed in favour of the succulent
insect above his head. To do so would only dissolve a partnership
recognised and respected throughout the world. A hundred years hence
someone may turn these pages not only to see what has been said to-day but
to find out what the Bank was like and what was happening to those in it
during the 1960's. We like to think that in this magazine they will see us
as we are and, perhaps, sense that quality which embraces our strength, our
weaknesses, and all other characteristics and which can best be summed up
as 'something which money can't buy'. One important point might, however,
be overlooked because it was made by our Chairman in the Annual Report for
1962 from which we quote:—
'Martins Bank with its national network of
branches is in a strong position which, in the view
of your Board and Management, would not be
enhanced by a wider association.'
We hope
that those who come after will understand how, in the age of the rat-race,
the gimmick and the brash headline, that quietly restrained but immensely
heartening statement amounted almost to an understatement. Nevertheless it
found instant and universal approval.
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How sad that
a crystal ball was not available in 1962 to foretell that in less than six
years, Martins Bank would indeed have to be “enhanced by a wider
association”, spoken of by the Chairman of Martins Bank, Sir Cuthbert Clegg
(pictured, left), in a BBC Interview in October 1968:
“Though Martins
eventually will become a completely integrated Bank with Barclays its
identity will not disappear immediately. I feel sure that Martins' name
will never be lost sight of, because of the Bank's great history”.
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Were
things always as “bad” as they are today?
 In the twenty-first century we are used to hearing horror
stories about our banks almost every day of the week. The term “Banker” is freely used to the
point where those on the front line of banking - the friendly and usually
grossly underpaid faces who deal with your day to day transactions - are not
distinguished from those who never even meet the public, and whose risk
taking, along with that of their bosses, has caused many of the problems we
read about. Was it always like this?
Well, of course not. The golden age of banking seems to end about the
time that Barclays takes over Martins Bank.
From that point on, competition is the new king. The hitherto simple waters of banking
become muddied – the nuts and bolts of running a bank become “products”, and
cashiers become “salespeople”.
 Competition does not, however, seem to be the fault of any
one particular bank. It gathers
momentum amongst them all, as those in charge realise that money doesn’t only
make more money when it is invested or loaned. The same money can produce an income if you
class looking after it in ever more convoluted ways as a service, and
make charges for that service. The
days of the bank manager knowing his customers’ strengths and weaknesses are
soon numbered, as computers make it possible to replace more and more tasks
previously undertaken by real people; and so we reach today’s permanently
confused and confusing banking market, where no-one really seems to know what
direction they are going in, previously sound knowledge of local
businesses and financial trends has been lost along with many of those
businesses themselves, and much of what Martins Bank stands for in the 1960s
has been wiped away…
  It is still
less than fifty years since Martins was absorbed into Barclays, and in case
we should forget the contribution made by this amazing financial institution,
Martins Bank Archive is proud to offer this website as both a social history
and a permanent reminder, with more than twelve hundred pages of information,
packed with memories and images of Martins down the years. As the first major national bank to be based outside London, first with
mobile branches, first with computers, first to operate a cash machine that uses
a plastic card and four digit PIN, first to recognise and properly use the
full power of branding in the swinging 60s, Martins really is a first among
banks – a 1960s icon!
 By the end of
its days as the largest of the “Small Six” Banks, Martins has operated at
more than 930 branch and office addresses in England and Wales, and with over
700 still open by 1969, not to mention district departments and subsidiary
companies, Martins’ presence is strong, particularly throughout the North of
England where it seems that almost every town and village has its own
Branch. Many of Martins’ new 1960s buildings are beautifully designed
with sumptuous interiors, and stand alongside the more traditional bank
branches as testament to the bank that always goes to extremes to be
helpful.
To navigate the
site please choose from the various on screen menus and use your browser’s
forward and back buttons. ABOUT
MARTINS BANK ARCHIVE explains more
about how our archive is put together. Martins Bank
Archive is a voluntary venture, not for profit, and aims simply to act as a
historical record that is accessible to all. We always need images of Martins Bank
Branches - especially covering the period 1950 to 1969 (just before the bank
was taken over by Barclays).
 Exterior AND
interior shots, pictures of staff and especially images of everyday artefacts
such as cheques, paying in slips and product leaflets are particularly
welcome. We will be happy to include
acknowledgements and where appropriate links to the external web sites of
those who provide items, memories and/or help. Our Staff Database contains
several hundred thousand entries that enable us to piece back together the
career details of those who worked for the Bank between 1946 and 1969. You can find out more by visiting RESEARCHING YOUR FAMILY TREE.
Don’t forget to
visit our micro site – LEWIS’S BANK ARCHIVE, which tells the fascinating story of
Lewis’s Bank, a unique and major force in Department Store Banking from 1928
to the mid 1980s. Finally, our
MOST WANTED
feature gives details of those items and images we are keen to
trace. We will also be delighted to
put your personal memories of Martins on our COMMENT page. If you worked for Martins Bank,
and we do not have a picture of you, we will be pleased to include any
relevant pictures that you may possess. We hope you enjoy your visit
to Martins Bank, and that you will want to visit our 1200+ pages again and
again…
“The Song is Ended, but the Melody Lingers on…”
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Left to Right:
Burnley, Heaton Chapel,
Blackpool Whitegate
Drive, Leeds Vicar Lane, and Scarborough South Cliff.
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