Birmingham Banking Company

The former Birmingham Banking Company building at the junction of Waterloo Street and Bennetts Hill
Branch built at the junction of Chapel St and Ely St, Stratford-upon-Avon in 1883 by Harris, Martin and Harris

The Birmingham Banking Company operated in Birmingham, West Midlands from 1829 to 1989, and as The Metropolitan and Birmingham Bank from 1889 to 1914.

History

This joint-stock bank was established on 30 September 1829[1] in Birmingham. It was based upon the business of the Birmingham private bankers Gibbins & Lovell, established in 1825 and initially traded from their premises in New Street.[2] The bank built itself a headquarters in Birmingham at the junction of Waterloo Street and Bennetts Hill which was constructed in 1830 to the designs of the architects Thomas Rickman and Henry Hutchinson.[3] They moved into this new building in 1831. It was altered in 1868 by Yeoville Thomason.[4]

The firm grew rapidly and by the mid 1830s it was one of Birmingham's strongest banks. It absorbed other businesses, including its major rival, the Bank of Birmingham, established in 1832. In 1865 it took over Little and Woodcock of Coventry.

During the financial crisis of 1866 the bank suffered severe liquidity problems and failed on 14 July 1866 with liabilities of £1.8m (equivalent to £150,390,000 in 2015)[5] against a capital of £280,000 (equivalent to £23,390,000 in 2015).[5] It was the largest bank to fail during the banking crisis of the mid 1860s.[6] It was restructured and reopened in August 1866.

In 1880 the Stourbridge and Kidderminster Bank amalgamated with the Birmingham Banking Company.

It amalgamated with the Royal Exchange Bank (formerly the Metropolitan Bank) in 1889 to form The Metropolitan and Birmingham Bank.[7] This amalgamation enabled the Birmingham company to facilitate its London business as the Royal Exchange Bank had a seat in the clearing house, and until this time the Birmingham bank had paid fees of several thousand pounds a year for cashing their cheques in the London Clearing House. The nominal capital of the bank increased at this time from £3.5m to £5.0m.[8]

The Metropolitan and Birmingham Bank was acquired by the Midland Bank in 1914.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Gilbart, James William (1837). The History and Principles of Banking. p. 130.
  2. ↑ "Saturday to Wednesday's Posts". Worcester Herald. England. 3 October 1829. Retrieved 9 August 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  3. ↑ Ballard, Phillada (2009), Birminghams Victorian & Edwardian Architects, Oblong for the Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society, ISBN 978-0-9556576-2-7
  4. ↑ Historic England, "Midland Bank (1075753)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 9 August 2017
  5. 1 2 UK Consumer Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Gregory Clark (2016), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)", MeasuringWorth.com.
  6. ↑ Turner, John (10 July 2014). Banking in Crisis: The Rise and Fall of British Banking Stability, 1800 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 83. ISBN 9781107030947.
  7. ↑ "The Birmingham Banking Company". Leamington Spa Courier. England. 29 August 1889. Retrieved 9 August 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  8. ↑ "Another Bank Amalgamation in the Midlands". Leamington Spa Courier. England. 3 August 1889. Retrieved 9 August 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  9. ↑ "Another Bank Fusion Reported". Birmingham Mail. England. 19 June 1914. Retrieved 9 August 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
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