Chapter 7 of 121841–1928

Monday evenings, seven till nine

In February 1843 the Illustrated London News reported that the accounts “exhibited a considerable increase in the funds, notwithstanding the general depression of trade”.1 Illustrated London News, 25 February 1843 (two Internet Archive scans agree). The bank’s statement for 1844 set out its week: deposits on Monday evenings from 7 until 9, repayments on Wednesday evenings, and Government annuities on Tuesday and Friday mornings. On 20 November that year it had 7,230 open accounts and £185,356 on deposit.2 1844 annual statement, cover (as chapter 5, note 7); the days and hours are independently confirmed by Tidd Pratt (1846), p. 97, which also gives the figures for 20 November 1844. The same return notes “Life Annuities granted”; an annuity institution “in connection with the Finsbury Bank for Savings, Sekforde Street” printed its rules in 1842 (Rules of the Finsbury Government Annuity Institution, London: J. B. W. Knight, 1842, title page).

The managers were still unpaid and took turns to attend. At a forgery trial in 1845 the actuary admitted that “our managers attend so seldom that they are not acquainted with the full necessities of the business.”3 Old Bailey Proceedings, session beginning 18 August 1845, t18450818-1625 (Wayback capture of 2015), trial of William Coleman Balls for forging a £30 receipt on a friendly society’s account; evidence of Thomas Nixey (manager: “I take my turn as one of the managers, to attend”) and W. N. Wortley (actuary). Notices of withdrawal were entered in a “Notice and Repayment book”, and a manager on duty issued “a check, which is paid by another person”. Balls was convicted and “Transported for Ten Years” (also The National Archives, HO 18/155/34; Illustrated London News, 30 August 1845, p. 134). In 1858 Wortley told a Select Committee that the bank had “more than 11,000 depositors” and between 70 and 80 honorary managers. Its evening depositors were “chiefly … working people”. They paid in at “a particular desk, labelled ‘The cashier’s desk’“, and the day’s takings were “locked up in the strong room until the end of the day”.4 Report from the Select Committee on Savings Banks (1857–58), Minutes of Evidence, W. N. Wortley, 22 March 1858, pp. 106–115 (page images, Google Books xORbAAAAQAAJ), Q.1535–1545, Q.1548 and Q.1620–1621. The managers attended by rota.

“a great many come from a distance, with a view that their friends may not know they are depositors.”

W. N. Wortley, the bank’s actuary, to the Select Committee on Savings Banks, 18585 Select Committee 1858, p. 111, Q.1629. The full sentence: “The great majority would live within, perhaps, a couple of miles of the bank; I think one habit of some depositors is not to deposit in their own neighbourhood; so that a great many come from a distance, with a view that their friends may not know they are depositors.”

By 1860 the bank had an auxiliary office at 76 Cheapside, and by 1863 it was called the Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank.6 The Bankers’ Magazine, January 1860, p. 47 (“an auxiliary bank being opened at 76, Cheapside”); Select Committee 1858, Q.1588 (no branches in March 1858); Palmer’s Index to The Times, 1863 (“Finsbury and City of London Savings’ Bank”), against 1862 (“Finsbury Savings Bank”). Later directories give the City branch as 98 Cheapside (1875, 1881) and 97 Cheapside (1882–1914). The bank later absorbed the Islington Savings Bank, in 1873 according to The Solicitors’ Journal (22 July 1905, p. 657) and in 1876 according to Horne (1947), Appendix I. In June 1911, during a run on the Birkbeck Bank, a depositor drew her whole balance out of Sekforde Street, £216 of it in gold. The bank’s chief clerk told a court the following March: “We had no run on our bank at all.”7 Filson Young (ed.), Trial of the Seddons (Notable British Trials, 1914), p. 49, evidence of John Charles Pepper, March 1912 (https://archive.org/details/trialofseddons00seddiala). The whole balance was £216 9s. 7d. In the 1920s Finsbury took over other savings banks, among them Bedford (1924–25) and Gravesend (about 1927).8 The National Archives, NDO 20/64 (1924–25); Lloyds TSB Group Archives catalogue TD, TD/489/a/6–12 (Gravesend ledgers labelled Finsbury and City of London “record” from 1927); catalogue TC, TC/148/a/13 (1926); Horne (1947), p. 333 (“secured new territory in Bedford, High Wycombe, and Gravesend”).

Notes

Illustrated London News, 25 February 1843 (two Internet Archive scans agree).
1844 annual statement, cover (as chapter 5, note 7); the days and hours are independently confirmed by Tidd Pratt (1846), p. 97, which also gives the figures for 20 November 1844. The same return notes “Life Annuities granted”; an annuity institution “in connection with the Finsbury Bank for Savings, Sekforde Street” printed its rules in 1842 (Rules of the Finsbury Government Annuity Institution, London: J. B. W. Knight, 1842, title page).
Old Bailey Proceedings, session beginning 18 August 1845, t18450818-1625 (Wayback capture of 2015), trial of William Coleman Balls for forging a £30 receipt on a friendly society’s account; evidence of Thomas Nixey (manager: “I take my turn as one of the managers, to attend”) and W. N. Wortley (actuary). Notices of withdrawal were entered in a “Notice and Repayment book”, and a manager on duty issued “a check, which is paid by another person”. Balls was convicted and “Transported for Ten Years” (also The National Archives, HO 18/155/34; Illustrated London News, 30 August 1845, p. 134).
Report from the Select Committee on Savings Banks (1857–58), Minutes of Evidence, W. N. Wortley, 22 March 1858, pp. 106–115 (page images, Google Books xORbAAAAQAAJ), Q.1535–1545, Q.1548 and Q.1620–1621. The managers attended by rota.
Select Committee 1858, p. 111, Q.1629. The full sentence: “The great majority would live within, perhaps, a couple of miles of the bank; I think one habit of some depositors is not to deposit in their own neighbourhood; so that a great many come from a distance, with a view that their friends may not know they are depositors.”
The Bankers’ Magazine, January 1860, p. 47 (“an auxiliary bank being opened at 76, Cheapside”); Select Committee 1858, Q.1588 (no branches in March 1858); Palmer’s Index to The Times, 1863 (“Finsbury and City of London Savings’ Bank”), against 1862 (“Finsbury Savings Bank”). Later directories give the City branch as 98 Cheapside (1875, 1881) and 97 Cheapside (1882–1914). The bank later absorbed the Islington Savings Bank, in 1873 according to The Solicitors’ Journal (22 July 1905, p. 657) and in 1876 according to Horne (1947), Appendix I.
Filson Young (ed.), Trial of the Seddons (Notable British Trials, 1914), p. 49, evidence of John Charles Pepper, March 1912 (https://archive.org/details/trialofseddons00seddiala). The whole balance was £216 9s. 7d.
The National Archives, NDO 20/64 (1924–25); Lloyds TSB Group Archives catalogue TD, TD/489/a/6–12 (Gravesend ledgers labelled Finsbury and City of London “record” from 1927); catalogue TC, TC/148/a/13 (1926); Horne (1947), p. 333 (“secured new territory in Bedford, High Wycombe, and Gravesend”).