11-28-80 Stockton on Tees

BARCLAYS BANK LIMITED

49 High Street Premises Department

42 Yarm Road

LLOYDS BANK LIMITED

27 High Street

Yarm Lane

MARTINS BANK LIMITED

93 High Street 46a Yarm Road

Norton Road

MIDLAND BANK LIMITED

136 High Street Yarm Lane

Norton

NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK

High Street

WESTMINSTER BANK LIMITED

17 High Street

YORKSHIRE BANK LIMITED

Address not held

Art, design, and imagination…

1960 s Stockton on Tees Int 1 - BGA Ref 0030-2789

“The first steam train left for Stockton on 27 September 1825 – British Rail expect it to arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon”. The old jokes are not always the best, but the importance of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which when built was the longest in the World, is remembered in the design of the counter front at Martins Bank’s Stockton on Tees Branch. The design features in Martins Bank Magazine in 1966 as one of a number of specially commissioned works placed in new and revamped branches in the 1950s and 60s. You can read more on our DESIGNING MARTINS page. Stockton on Tees High Street opens in 1874 and is the first of five branches in the town that open between then and 1967, and be operated under the name of Martins Bank.

In Service: 1 June 1874 until 12 May 1990

Image © Barclays Ref 0030-2789

Barclays also has a Branch in Stockton High Street, and several sub-Branches in the town, but the Martins High Street Branch remains open until 1990. There are a number of images of Stockton in the Barclays Collection, and these are shown below. Some demonstrate the modernisation of the Branch, which takes place in the mid 1960s. This includes a new black marble frontage which is seen in the exterior photograph (above). We don’t however have an exterior view of the building from before these changes.

Images © Barclays Ref 0030-2789

Our feature concerns Mr Darling, who is retiring from the branch having been its manager since 1959. This ends a career which has spanned forty-three years with the bank…

1966 04 MBM.jpg 1959 to 1966 Mr R H Darling Manager MBM-Wi66P56.jpg over 60 past and present members of the staff gathered at the Vane Arms Hotel, Stockton-on-Tees, on September 30 to wish Mr and Mrs Darling well in retirement. Some of the visitors were from London, Bristol and Manchester. Mr W. Weatherill paid tribute to Mr Darling's loyal service and the high regard in which he was held by customers and staff. He then presented an electric hedge trimmer and a cheque, which would be used to buy a bookcase and also garden chairs from which Mr Darling intended to watch his sons trimming the hedge. Miss Margaret Wake presented Mrs Darling with a bouquet. Mr Darling commenced his career in 1923 at Felton branch and, apart from a spell with H.M. Forces, spent his life in the North Eastern District. He had been Accountant at Newcastle City Office, was appointed Manager at Ashington in 1950 and Manager at Stockton-on-Tees in 1959.



*Mr H R Barker* *Joined the Bank Here* *1902 to 1907*	*Mr B Raine* *Cashier* *1913 to 1926*	*Mr W R Dixon* *Manager* *1931 to 1935*	*Mr B Kirtley* *Joined the Bank Here* *1941 to 1942*	*Mr G H Bell* *Manager* *1944 to 1949*	*Mr J A Gardner* *On the Staff* *1946 to 1946*



*Mr R Wilson* *Manager* *1950 to 1952*	*Mr A B Hindmarsh* *Manager* *1952 to 1955*	*Mr W Hunter* *On the Staff* *1951 to 1959*	*Mr R Russell* *Pro Manager* *1954 to 1960*	*Mr Gordon W Curry* *First Cashier* *1957 to 1959*	*Mr R H Darling* *Manager* *1959 to 1966*



*Mr A Cheesebrough* *Pro Manager* *1961 to 1965*	*Miss V S Pickles* *On the Staff* *1962*	*Mr J F Knowles* *Assistant Manager* *1963 to 1965*	*Mr T E Smith* *Assistant Manager* *1964 to 1966*	*Mr T B Todd* *Pro Manager* *1965*	*Mr W A Hopewell* *Manager* *1966 onwards*



*Mr V G Smith* *Assistant Manager* *1966 to 1968*	*Mr M Johnson* *Assistant Manager* *1966 onwards*