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Many large towns and
cities in England have grown by swallowing up smaller communities, and often
the names of these survive as areas or suburbs of the connurbation. Sometimes
cities miles apart can each have a suburb with the same name, as in the case
of Kensington – not only an area
London, but also a suburb of Liverpool. The Bank of Liverpool opens a Branch
at 100 Kensington in 1893, and although it doesn’t quite make it to a
century, it does last well beyond the merger with Barclays and into the
1980s. Kensington has a sub-Branch at
Liverpool’s STANLEY
ABATTOIR, an association with local agriculture that goes back to the days of
the Cattle Trade Bank in the 1920s. When Martins Bank Limited is created in
1928 there are TWO sub-Branches at STANLEY CATTLE MARKET. by 1930 these are
closed and replaced by a permanent building at the brand new Stanley Meat and
Cattle Market site. Mr Stanley Webster
is one member of the Branch staff that doesn’t make it to the merger,
but he does have a happy reason – he retires in July 1969 after forty-four
long years with the bank. A long career deserves a longer than usual write up
in Martins Bank Magazine, which prints details of Mr Webster’s retirement in
Autumn 1969.
'A week
that lifts tensions and eases jobs' was Stanley Webster's horoscope for the week he retired from Kensington branch, Liverpool, where he had been manager for the past six years.
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In Service: October 1893 until 12 June 1987
Branch Images © Barclays Ref 0030-1671
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 To mark the event he and Mrs Webster entertained sixty
friends to a party at the Tudor Room, Fairfield, on July 30. Presenting a cheque and a retirement card containing the names of 140 subscribers throughout the country, Mr Ian Buchanan spoke of Mr Webster's
consideration for his staff and of the esteem in which he was held by staff and customers alike. Mr Webster joined the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank at Castletown in 1925, transferring to Douglas
seven years later. He came over to Liverpool in 1935 and was at Sefton Park until he joined the R.A.F. in 1941. On his return from war service he went to
Blundellsands and in 1954 joined Inspection Department where his personality
did much to improve the unfortunate image that tends to attach itself to
these departments.
A keen golfer—he had captained the
Liverpool District Golfing Society—he had devoted much of his spare time since coming to
Kensington to the Anfield Boys Club, of which he is treasurer. After Mrs Webster had been presented
with a bouquet by Miss
Laura Gobbin, Mr Webster spoke of his
delight at seeing so many of his associates on this special, but somewhat sad, occasion. There were three things, he said, which come unawares upon a man— sleep, sin and old age.
No doubt there would be more opportunities for getting more sleep and he
thought there may be some tie-up between the other two. He had been fortunate in having such
variety in his banking
life: during his years on inspection he had seen many parts of the country and eaten many good
meals at the Bank's expense. Above all, he had made many friends and enjoyed
good companionship, which had meant a great deal. Mr Webster will be using the cheque to buy a new television set as his old one had
beaten him to retirement
by ten days.
In the picture…
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 We were delighted to be contacted by
Trevor Williams, whose father worked for Martins Bank over a long career, which
began in 1938 at Liverpool Kensington Branch. Mr Morley Savage Williams can be seen
(aged about 19) back row, rightmost, in this wonderfully atmospheric
photograph, which we believe to have been taken at Kensington in or around
1939. Mr Williams went on to serve
his country in World War Two, re-joining the Bank at Sefton Park in
1946. Having a particularly good
aptitude for the Bank Exams, he achieved distinctions in several subjects,
and specialised in the law surrounding real estate and conveyancing. This
enabled him to work at several of the Bank’s Trustee and Investment
Offices, from where he rose to Manage the London City Trustee Department in
1968.
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Image © Martins
Bank Archive Collections - Trevor Williams 2020
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 It’s no laughing
matter…
 Thankfully armed raids are relatively
few and far between in the world of banking, but no matter how staff are
coached in what to do to protect themselves, nothing can prepare a cashier
for the terror of being faced with what could be a gun or other weapon.
When Liverpool Kensington Branch is raided, two men wearing carnival masks
get away with a large amount of cash.
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Martins Bank is very keen
that those who have terrified its staff in such an audacious manner should
be brought to justice, and it takes the unusual step of offering a reward
that equates to TWO-THIRDS of the amount that was stolen. The story, which
made headlines in newspapers across the country, is reported here by the
Coventry Evening Telegraph on 14 January 1966…
{
A reward of up to Ł1,000 was offered by Martins Bank today for information
leading to the arrest of two men who snatched Ł1,500 from their kensington,
Liverpool Branch, shortly before closing time yesterday. Widespread police inquiries are being
made for the two men, said to be aged about 30, who wore carnival masks.
One held up the bank staff with what appeared to be a gun while the other
jumped over the counter and grabbed the money. They excaped in a stolen
car, which was later found abandoned about two miles away. The stolen money included Ł500 in new Ł1
notes. One of the men was described as 6ft tall, thin build with short fair
hair, and a yellowish complexion. He had sunken eyes and a long thin face
and a broad nose. His left shoulder appeared to be deformed and was higher
than the right shoulder. He was wearing a dark coloured three-quarter
length, suede car coat. The other man was described as 5ft 8in tall,
heavily built with broad shoulders and had black slightly wavy hair.}
COVENTRY EVENING TELEGRAPH 14 January 1966
Image © Trinity Mirror created
courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Image reproduced with kind permission
of The British Newspaper Archive
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Little works of
art…
In the days before the
computerisation of bank accounts, the humble cheque has a certain aesthetic
that elevates it above the role of merely an intrument of payment. The
stautory imprint of the government’s stamp duty logo (this one is from
September 1936) is intricate and ornate, as well as being a reminder of the
days when you were TAXED for writing a cheque! This Liverpool Kensington cheque
is from our Archive, and even its discolouration, evokes those earlier
times in our social hisory...
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Image © Martins
Bank Archive Collections
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