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Like so many of the branch buildings inherited by Martins Bank, this one at Batley is indeed a most grand affair, endowed with the sort of ecclesiastical look that is so very popular with so many of the Banks of the late 1800s.  It is 1876, and still some twenty-six years before the absorption of the West Riding Union Bank by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank. At this time the West Riding Union Bank has been trading well, building up good reserves and surplus funds sufficient to be able to build a number of new branches, and a brand-new office of the West Riding Union Bank is built at Hick Lane, Batley.  It speaks volumes, and serves as a good lesson to today’s banks and governments, that the West Riding Union puts money aside for the bad times. Most Banks will have “reserves” and contingency monies, but many overstretch themselves financially, hence the constant round of mergers and amalgamations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth Centuries. 

In 1878 a large number of local businesses founder and the West Riding Union Bank is actually able to absorb the losses incurred from its own resources. There are ample funds with which to do this, and it would seem that the phrase credit crunch has yet to be coined in this very canny part of Yorkshire!  For our somewhat short Batley feature, we wind forward to 1966, when Martins Bank Magazine bids farewell to Mr Slater, who has managed Batley Branch for some eighteen years…

In Service: 1876 until September 1998

 

 

Branch Images © Barclays Ref 0030-0129

1948 to 1966 Mr A Slater Manager MBM-Wi66P57.jpg1966 04 MBM.jpgThe informal presentation to Mr Slater of a table lamp and a cheque with the best wishes of past and present colleagues and friends marked his retirement as Manager of Batley Branch at the end of August. 

His career began in Leeds in 1923 but from 1934 he had worked in the Manchester District.  Apart from four years in H M Forces he had been Clerk in Charge at Manchester Fallowfield Branch from 1936 to 1948 when he was appointed Manager at Batley.

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Just occasionally we can bring you images of a Branch as it looked under THREE separate owners. Thanks to W N Townson Bequest and Barclays’ Branch Photographs, we can see that very little changes over the years at this lovely little building…

   1922 – Lancashire & Yorkshire Bank…

Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections – W N Townson

   1940 – Martins Bank Limited…

Image ©  Barclays - Ref 0030-0129

   1970 – Barclays Bank Limited…

Image © Barclays - Ref 0030-0129

1908 Mr A Crabtree joined the service here MBM-Sp49P35.jpg

1912 Mr W A Fisher joined the bank here MBM-Sp56P52.jpg

1923 to 1937 Mr I Binns MBM-Wi60P54.jpg

1946 to 1948 Mr V R Norton MBM-Wi63P08.jpg

1948 to 1966 Mr A Slater Manager MBM-Wi66P57.jpg

Mr A Crabtree

Joined the Bank Here

1908

Mr W A Fisher

Joined the Bank Here

1912

Mr I Binns

On the Staff

1923 to 1937

Mr F A A Beresford

Manager

1946 to 1948

Mr V R Norton

On the Staff

1946 to 1948

Mr A Slater

Manager

1948 to 1966

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1949 to 1951 Mr G Kilner joined the bank here MBM-Su66P06.jpg

1965 Yvonne Ineson Cashier MBM-Wi65P37.jpg

1966 Mr EH Bennett Manager MBM-Wi66P03.jpg

Mr G Kilner

Joined the Bank Here

1949 to 1951

Mr P F Sharpe

Joined the Bank Here

1952 to 1954

Mr J G Crossley

Limited Authority

1959 to 1969

Miss Yvonne Ineson

Cashier

1965

Mr E H Bennett

Manager

1966 onwards

 

 

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LLOYDS BANK LIMITED

 

MARTINS BANK LIMITED

 

MIDLAND BANK LIMITED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK

 

YORKSHIRE BANK LIMITED

 

 

 

Title:

Type:

Address:

Index No and District:

Hours:

 

Telephone:

Services:

Manager:

11-48-00 Batley 

Full Branch

Hick Lane Batley Yorkshire

708 Manchester

Mon to Fri 1000-1500

Saturday 0900-1130

Batley 4103

Nightsafe Installed

Mr E H Bennett Manager

 

 

Bath

1876

15 July 1902

3 January 1928

15 December 1969

September 1998

Opened by the West Riding Union Bank

Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank

Martins Bank Limited

Barclays Bank Limited 20-05-13 Batley

Closed

Batley Carr

 

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