43-605: Martins Bank was a London private bank, trading for much of its time under the symbol of “The Grasshopper”, that could trace its origins back to Thomas Gresham and the London goldsmiths, from which it developed into a bank known as Martin's Bank from 1890. That bank was acquired in 1918 by the Bank of Liverpool , which wanted Martins to give it a London presence and a seat on the London Bankers' Clearing House . The Martin name
86-582: A merchant whilst acting in various matters as agent for King Henry VIII . In 1544 he married Anne Ferneley, widow of the London merchant Sir William Read, but maintained residence principally in the Low Countries , basing his headquarters at Antwerp in present-day Belgium (then the Spanish Netherlands ), where he became renowned for his adept market-play . When in 1551 the mismanagement of Sir William Damsell , King's Merchant to
129-513: A London merchant. By his wife he had an only son who predeceased him. He also had an illegitimate daughter who married Sir Nathaniel Bacon ( c. 1546–1622), half-brother of Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans , becoming Anne, Lady Bacon . Gresham died suddenly, apparently of apoplexy , on 21 November 1579 and was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate in the City of London . Apart from some small sums to various charities, Gresham bequeathed
172-519: A gilt brooch. Notes Bibliography Thomas Gresham Sir Thomas Gresham the Elder ( / ˈ ɡ r ɛ ʃ ə m / ; c. 1519 – 21 November 1579) was an English merchant and financier who acted on behalf of King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Edward's half-sisters, queens Mary I (1553–1558) and Elizabeth I (1558–1603). In 1565 Gresham founded the Royal Exchange in
215-597: A merchant, Sir Richard first sent him to university at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge . He was concurrently apprenticed in the Mercers' Company to his uncle Sir John Gresham , founder of Gresham's School , while he was still at Cambridge . In 1543 the Mercers' Company admitted the 24-year-old Gresham as a liveryman , and later that year he left England for the Low Countries , where, either on his own account or that of his father or uncle, he carried on business as
258-453: A prescribed level. Many of Martins' forms, and some procedures, were retained or later adopted by Barclays as being more advanced than their own. Martins Bank Archive has been collecting images and items relating to Martins Bank since 1989. Since 2009 the collection has been accessible online, with interested parties emailing requests for (or donations of) information or images, via the archive website. Since 2011 Martins Bank Archive has carried
301-401: A staff database of more than 100,000 entries, from existing paper records, and can provide limited information to family tree researchers. Career details are available dating back to the late 1800s for some staff, but in the main the records cover the period 1946 to 1969. The database also covers new entrants, staff transfers and promotions, marriages, retirements and deaths. Martins Bank Archive
344-478: Is also home to a separate archive for Lewis's Bank, covering the period 1958 to 1967. A staff database for this period is also maintained. The Liverpool Head Office of Martins Bank is a Grade II* listed building designed by Herbert Rowse and opened in 1932. It has been described as Rowse's "masterpiece... and among the very best interwar classical buildings in the country." During the Second World War,
387-465: The City of London . Born in London and descended from an old Norfolk family , Gresham was one of two sons and two daughters of Sir Richard Gresham , a leading merchant mercer and Lord Mayor of London , who was knighted by King Henry VIII for negotiating favourable loans with foreign merchants. Gresham was educated at St Paul's School . After that, although his father wanted Thomas to become
430-787: The Grenadier Guards in the Second World War, being promoted to Major, and was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the Italian Campaign . After the war, he was appointed, in 1947, Lieutenant-Colonel of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) in the Territorial Army (TA), and then as Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool) , the fifth Earl of Derby to hold that appointment. He continued in that position with its successors in
473-670: The Lewis's Department Stores (not to be confused with John Lewis) and also in Selfridges in London. Lewis's Bank was sold to Lloyds Bank in 1967 and lasted until at least the 1980s. The last Lewis's department store (in Liverpool) closed in May 2010. A new headquarters building for Martins Bank Limited was designed by the architect Herbert James Rowse in the classical revival style and opened in 1932 at 4 Water Street , Liverpool, replacing
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#1732802361014516-525: The Rialto there, called Saint Mark 's; 'tis but a bauble, if compared to this. The nearest, that which most resembles this, is the great Burse in Antwerp , yet no comparable either in height or wideness, the fair cellarage, or goodly shops above. Oh my Lord Mayor , this Gresham hath much graced your City of London; his fame will long outlive him. In 1544 he married Anne Ferneley, widow of Sir William Read,
559-627: The Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) (5th/8th (Volunteer) Battalion, King's Regiment; 4th (Volunteer) Battalion, Queen's Lancashire Regiment ; Lancastrian Volunteers ) until 1975, and as Colonel of the 1st Battalion, Liverpool Scottish (TA) from 1964. He was also honorary Captain of the Mersey Division of the Royal Naval Reserve . A Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire between 1946 and 1951, Lord Derby
602-416: The honorary titles of Constable of Lancaster Castle between 1972 and 1994, and Pro-Chancellor of Lancaster University between 1964 and 1971. A director of Martins Bank and of Granada Television , Lord Derby created Knowsley Safari Park in 1971 on his ancestral estate. The Earl of Derby Scout Troop planted a tree and erected a stone plaque in the grounds of Knowsley Hall in celebration of
645-504: The weathervane on the Royal Exchange in the City of London , also founded by him in 1565. The Faneuil Hall at Boston , Massachusetts , has also borrowed this heraldic device . The Gresham coat of arms is blazoned: Argent, a Chevron Erminés between three Mullets pierced Sable . According to ancient legend, the founder of the family, Roger de Gresham, was a foundling abandoned as a new-born baby among long grass in Norfolk during
688-541: The 13th century and found there by a woman whose attention was drawn to the child by a grasshopper. Although a beautiful story, it is more likely that the grasshopper is simply a canting heraldic crest playing on the sound "grassh-" and "Gresh-". The Gresham family uses as its motto Fiat Voluntas Tua ('Thy will be done'). Edward Stanley, 18th Earl of Derby Edward John Stanley, 18th Earl of Derby , MC , TD , DL (21 April 1918 – 28 November 1994), styled Lord Stanley from 1938 to 1948,
731-571: The Kiddicraft Toy Company and Metcalfe Models to provide toys with the bank's logo on them. These included miniature cheque and paying in books, and cardboard construction kits for model railway enthusiasts. In 1968, whilst already part of the Barclays Group of Companies, Martins issued what became a commemorative grasshopper money box in clear yellow plastic. this was given to children who opened savings accounts, along with
774-830: The Low Countries, had caused the English Government much financial embarrassment, the authorities called Gresham for advice, thereafter following his proposals. Gresham advocated the adoption of various methods – highly ingenious, but quite arbitrary and unfair – for raising the value of the pound sterling on the Antwerp bourse which proved so successful that in just a few years King Edward VI had discharged almost all of his debts. The Government sought Gresham's advice in all their money difficulties, and also frequently employed him in various diplomatic missions. He had no stated salary, but in reward of his services received from King Edward various grants of lands,
817-707: The annual value of which at that time amounted ultimately to about 400 pounds a year. On the accession of Queen Mary in 1553, Gresham fell out of favour at Court for a short time with Alderman William Dauntsey displacing him. But Dauntsey's financial operations proved unsuccessful and Gresham was soon reinstated; and as he professed his zealous desire to serve the Queen, and manifested great adroitness both in negotiating loans and in smuggling money, arms and foreign goods, not only were his services retained throughout her reign (1553–1558), but besides his salary of twenty shillings per diem he received grants of church lands to
860-684: The bulk of Britain's gold reserves were secretly moved under Operation Fish from the Bank of England to the vaults of Martins Bank in Liverpool; the operation overseen by Martins' Chief Inspector, Donald Lynch FIOB RBA . This was dramatised in the film The Bullion Boys . The 1971 film version of Dad's Army featured the fictional Walmington-on-Sea branch of Martins Bank, actually the Crown pub in Chalfont St Giles . Mr Mainwaring's Bank
903-639: The bulk of his property (consisting of estates in London and around England giving an income of more than £2,300 a year) to his widow and her heirs, with the stipulation that after her death his own house in Bishopsgate Street and the rents from the Royal Exchange should be vested in the Corporation of London and the Mercers Company , for the purpose of instituting a college in which seven professors should read lectures, one each day of
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#1732802361014946-419: The debased currency of England. However, Sir Thomas never formulated anything like Gresham's law , which was the 1857 conception of Henry Dunning Macleod , an economist with a knack for reading into a text that which was not written. The Gresham family crest is: On a Mount Vert a Grasshopper Or (a golden grasshopper on a green mound); it is displayed by Gresham College , which he founded, and also forms
989-404: The end of 1572. In 1565 Gresham made a proposal to the City of London 's Court of Aldermen to build, at his own expense, a bourse or exchange – what became the Royal Exchange , modelled on the Antwerp bourse – on condition that the Corporation provided for this purpose a suitable location. In this proposal he seems to have had a good eye for his self-interest as well as for
1032-590: The first to use the sign of the Grasshopper on a goldsmith 's shop in Lombard Street he does not appear to have had any connection with the Martins. Chandler states that there are differences of opinion as to when the Grasshopper became a bank and John Martin did not purchase the freehold of the Grasshopper until 1741. The Martin family were among the early London Goldsmiths . In 1558 Richard Martin
1075-593: The general good of the City's merchants, for by a yearly rental of £700 obtained for the shops in the upper part of the building he received more than sufficient return for his trouble and expense. The foundation of the Royal Exchange is the background of Thomas Heywood 's play: If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody part 2 , in which a Lord extols the quality of the building when asked if he has ever seen "a goodlier frame": Not in my life; yet I have been in Venice ... In
1118-603: The newsletter of the Grasshopper Pensioners' Club, a group of former Martins Staff whose activities are funded partly through subscription, and partly by Barclays. The site is run in association with, but independently of Barclays, who provide several thousand images of the bank's branches as they were between the 1930s and 1969. At 24 June 2013 the archive website comprises 1,116 pages of information and images relating to more than 900 known branches and former branches of Martins Bank. The archive has pieced together
1161-481: The occasional branch where individual partners lived. It meant that, compared with the joint-stock banks, Martins' growth was limited. Following the panic that followed the collapse of Barings Bank in 1890, Martins finally decided to become a limited company (1891). This prompted a more expansionist approach but the bank “thought only of amalgamations with other private banks”. There was an unsuccessful approach to Cocks Biddulph , with which there were family links, but
1204-400: The only English national bank to have its head office outside London. It was taken over in 1969 by Barclays . The history of Martins Bank is intertwined with the Grasshopper, the sign under which the Bank traded and was known in its early years. Tradition has it that Thomas Gresham , whose family crest included a grasshopper , founded the bank in 1563. However, although he is believed to be
1247-456: The previous headquarters at 7 Water Street. The bank was bought by Barclays Bank in 1969, when all of its 700 branches became branches of Barclays. Around 30 branches closed immediately, and ten were downgraded to sub-branches. Some, such as the sub-branch at Eaton, Norwich, Norfolk were brand new and handed over to Barclays on the day appointed by Act of Parliament for the merger of the two banks, 15 December 1969. The Martins grasshopper logo
1290-565: The quincentenary (1985) of the earldom's creation. Stanley was an active freemason . He is named as someone who lost a significant amount of money gambling in fast-paced Chemie games at John Aspinall 's gambling clubs. Lord Derby married Isabel Milles-Lade, daughter of the Hon. Henry Milles-Lade , in 1948. Their marriage was childless. Lady Derby, who survived a deliberate attempt on her life in 1952, died in 1990; Lord Derby survived her by four years and died in 1994, aged 76, being succeeded in
1333-531: The realisation that “expansion to the provinces was now essential” led to the bank agreeing, in 1914, to its acquisition by the Bank of Liverpool , which had been founded in 1831 in Liverpool , England . The Martins name had valuable prestige and a seat on the London Bankers' Clearing House ; when the delayed “merger” was consummated in 1918 after the conclusion of the First World War , the family name
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1376-430: The remainder of his life in London, he continued his business as merchant and government financial agent in much the same way as he had always done. Queen Elizabeth also found Gresham's abilities useful in a variety of other ways, including acting as gaoler to Lady Mary Grey (sister of Lady Jane Grey ), who, as a punishment for marrying Thomas Keyes the sergeant-porter, was imprisoned in his house from June 1569 to
1419-434: The week, in astronomy , geometry , physic , law, divinity , rhetoric and music. Thus, Gresham College , the first institution of higher learning in London, came to be established in 1597. Gresham's law (stated simply as: "Bad money drives out good") takes its name from him (although others, including the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus , had recognised the concept for years) because he urged Queen Elizabeth to restore
1462-617: The yearly value of 200 pounds. Under Queen Elizabeth 's reign (1558–1603), besides continuing in his post as financial agent of the Crown, Gresham acted as Ambassador Plenipotentiary to the Court of Duchess Margaret of Parma , Governor of the Netherlands , and was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1559 prior to his departure. The unsettled times preceding the Dutch revolt compelled him to leave Antwerp on 10 March 1567; but, though he spent
1505-455: Was a British hereditary peer , landowner and businessman. The eldest son of Edward, Lord Stanley , and his wife, the Hon. Sibyl Cadogan, daughter of Viscount Chelsea , his grandfather was Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby , a British Ambassador to Paris . He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford . His father having died in 1938, he succeeded his grandfather in the earldom and other family titles. John Stanley served with
1548-589: Was always meant to be Martins, but in the early episodes of the TV series the BBC felt a different name would "avoid confusion". In an episode of the second series Mr Mainwaring can actually be heard telling Private Walker that "as the Manager of Martins Bank" he wants nothing to do with black market activities. It was also used as the bank in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" (2016) Martins Bank worked in association with
1591-494: Was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire in 1951 in which capacity he served until 1968. Knowsley Village benefited from his gift of St Mary's Church of England school , playing fields and cottage to the Church Commissioners in 1949, followed by the transfer of the parish benefice to the diocese of Liverpool . Stanley High School, Southport , which he opened in 1952, was named after him. He held
1634-686: Was elected a liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company and later a Master of the Mint and Lord Mayor of the City of London . Successive generations of Martins ran the bank that was popularly referred to as “The Grasshopper” but the partnership went through various incarnations, including Martins, Stone and Blackwell, and Martin Stone and Foote in the eighteenth century; and Martin and Company in 1844. The London private bankers typically confined themselves to their one office, although Martins did have
1677-458: Was known to have borrowed from other banks on a number of occasions to fulfil these requests. Even so, many who worked for the bank believed that Martins could have survived on its own, as at the time of takeover it was expanding its UK banking operation, and continuing a run of "firsts" which included: Women were contractually obliged to leave the bank upon marriage, and as late as 1965, men were not allowed to get married until their salary reached
1720-496: Was retained for part of the combined business until the early 1980s, with "Martins Branch" and a small grasshopper appearing first on both statements and cheque books, later cheques only (see the Martins Bank Archive Project link below). Martins numbered among its customers a football pools company, a major airline and a world-renowned shipping line. When these customers wanted to borrow large sums, Martins
1763-472: Was retained in the title Bank of Liverpool and Martins. The name was subsequently shortened to Martins Bank Limited in 1928. The change of name was at the insistence of the directors of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank, whose former HQ at 43 Spring Gardens Manchester became Martins' Manchester district office. By 1928, the bank had expanded to some 560 branches and had a logo featuring a grasshopper, which
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1806-416: Was retained in the title of the enlarged bank which was known as the Bank of Liverpool and Martins Limited. The title was shortened to Martins Bank Limited (without an apostrophe) in 1928 at the insistence of the directors of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank when it was bought by the Bank of Liverpool and Martins. The head office and managerial control remained firmly in Liverpool, cementing Martins' place as
1849-768: Was the crest of Sir Thomas Gresham , and a Liver Bird , the logo of the Bank of Liverpool. The combined coat of arms was duly registered by the College of Heralds . The heraldic description of the coat of arms is as follows: "Or, a Liver Bird (or Cormorant) Sable, holding in the beak a branch of Laver (or Seaweed) Vert, on a Chief of the third a Grasshopper of the first." Directors of Martins Bank included Edward Stanley, 18th Earl of Derby , The Queen Mother's younger brother The Hon. Sir David Bowes-Lyon and Colonel Robert Buxton DSO MA-Oxon (Imperial Camel Corps friend of T. E. Lawrence ). Between 1958 and 1967 Martins Bank owned and operated Lewis's Bank which had branches in each of
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