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 It’s a very wet day in Lincoln, and here is Martins
Bank’s new branch sitting between Preedy’s and the Abbey National, in the
days when the Abbey was a still a building society. The Bank’s southwards
push leads to the opening of a branch in the city of Lincoln in 1955. By the
time of the 1969 merger with Barclays, Martins’ representation in
Lincolnshire also includes Boston, Grimsby, North Hykeham and Spalding, but the danger for many of the Bank’s
Southern Branches is their actual location – whilst Barclays will aqcuire
branches in many Northern towns for the first time, they already have
an almost saturation coverage of the South, and so many of Martins ofices
there will be surplus to requirements.
Lincoln is one of these, and is closed soon after the merger, with the
business transferred to Barclays’ Branch at Clasketgate. In July 1956,
Martins Bank Magazine visits this “still new” Branch…
 In
visiting branches one has to guard against repetition and the constant danger
of using superlatives in one's endeavour to convey to readers something of
the happy atmosphere which one invariably finds; and while these visits tend
to follow a set pattern, there are differences. Occasionally, the differences
make them outstanding. Lincoln, which we visited on July 5th, was different
and also outstanding.
In these days when the
competition of the five-day week makes staff recruiting among the girls so
difficult in many parts of the country, Mr. Wilmot is extremely fortunate,
for he had forty girls to pick from and, in the circumstances, it is not surprising
that he picked a couple of winners, Miss J. M. Wady and Miss J. A. Grundy
(June and Jean). June is already proving a success on the counter and Jean
has them all well organised at the back.
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In Service: January 1955
until 12 December 1969
Images © Barclays Ref 0030-1638
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Mr. C. M. Tenneson we first
met in Manchester, though he commenced his service at Sefton Park and served
in the Liverpool District for eleven years. The Bank will, we feel sure, hear
more of this extremely able and likeable man before long. Mr.
B. K. Fieldsend has only been in the Bank a little over a year and has other
business experience behind him which will stand him in good stead. We wish
Mr. and Mrs. Fieldsend many years of happiness in their new life together. Mr. H. A. Wilmot is an old hand at opening new branches.
His first appointment was as Clerk-in-Charge at Helsby in 1934. Then, when
Bristol branch was opened in 1937, he became Pro Manager, and the following
year he opened the new branch at Newport. In 1947 he was promoted to the
managership of Blundellsands branch and he opened at Lincoln in January 1955.
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Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections
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Images © Barclays Ref 0030-1638
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Mr. Wilmot entered the Bank
in 1918 and served at Old Swan, Heywoods, Liverpool City Office, Myrtle
Street, Foreign, New Brighton, Bebington, Inspection Department and at
Hoylake before his first appointment. He has always been a keen farmer and
horticulturist and it was, in fact, the absence of a garden in connection
with the Bank House at Blundellsands which drove him into the country at
week-ends and caused him to acquire the hill farm in Wales in which he is
still interested. He fits into the pattern of life at Lincoln perfectly and
is obviously both well known and well liked among the farming fraternity
there.
Time certainly seems
to fly in banking, and having only just met Mr Wilmott, we now bid him
farewell to his retirement “farming at Market Rasen”. Martins Bank’s Summer
1962 edition bring us the following retirement write-up…
  By the retirement of 'Bertie' Wilmot at
the end of April after 43 years' service the Bank has lost one of its most
attractive and colourful personalities, a manager with a flair for getting
new business and a very much-loved colleague. To mark the occasion, he
entertained members of the staff of Lincoln branch and many banking friends
to tea at Caythorpe Court Farm Institute. The proceedings
were opened by Mr. J. Bridgwood, second-in-command at Lincoln, who made
reference to the unfortunate absence through illness of Mr. W. E. Turnbull,
Midland District General Manager. This in turn caused the absence of Mr. R.
J. Lees, Midland Assistant District Manager, who was unable to leave
Birmingham. Mr. Bridgwood then welcomed the guests many of whom had travelled
considerable distances to be present. The presentation of a gold wristlet
watch was made on behalf of the subscribers by Mr. C. M. Tenneson (Manager,
Spalding), a former colleague of Mr. Wilmot's at Lincoln. In making reference
to Mr. Wilmot's business acumen, he mentioned his inability to resist the
challenge of a new branch, of which he had opened several. Mr. A. J. Frost
(Income Tax Manager of the Bank), expressed good wishes to Mr. and Mrs.
Wilmot on behalf of the General Management and Miss J. M. Waby presented Mrs.
Wilmot with a collection of Beswick china figures. In his reply Mr. Wilmot
spoke of the many enduring friendships he had made throughout the Bank, and
he then entertained the company with gems from his extensive repertoire of
humour. Mr. Wilmot entered the Bank in 1918 and served at Old Swan, Myrtle
Street, Stock Loan Department, Liverpool Foreign, New Brighton, Bebington,
Inspection Department, and Hoylake before his first appointment as Clerk-in-Charge
at Helsby in 1934. He was appointed Pro Manager at Bristol in 1937, Manager
at Newport in 1938, Manager at Blundell-sands in 1947 and Manager at Lincoln
in 1955. We recall with pleasure the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Wilmot with the
Bank party on the Carinthian Lakes holiday in 1958. They made many friends
who will want to join with us in wishing them both well in their 'retirement'
which is to take the form of farming near Market Rasen.
Troubled times?
 On 1 May 1962, Mr H Dixon is appointed Manager at Lincoln
following the retirement of Mr H A Wilmott. A look at the detailed breakdown
of profit and loss for the Branches in Martins Bank’s Midland District
reveals interesting numbers, and a rather curt summary of the situation at
Lincoln. It also provides us with an
insight into the logistics of staffing Branches with Managers who have the
right levels of experience, set against the performance of the business.
Under Mr Dixon, the Branch has a staff of nine – four male and five female.
The profit for the year ended 31 December 1962 is Ł4,421 putting Lincoln
fourteenth out of thirty-seven in the rankings for the Midland District. Mr Dixon is forty-nine years old, and his
salary is recorded as Ł2,330 which represents a sizeable chunk of the profit
– nearly 53%. Set this against Wolverhampton, the top performing Branch in
the district, and we see that a profit of Ł30,087 is achieved under a Manager
on Ł2,270 – a LOWER salary than Mr Dixon. The comments recorded in summary of
Lincoln’s performance are short and to the point: “Steadily growing but
troublesome”. Less than a year after
being appointed, Mr Dixon is replaced by newly qualified Manager Mr R J
Halford – who is, presumably, on a
much lower salary! It appears that the problem here is not Mr Dixon’s own
performance, simply the fact that someone had to be found quickly to replace
the retiring Manager, Mr Wilmott.
 Our thanks to Mike Ingham for this contemporary
image of Lincoln, one of a number of Martins Branches photographed in the
early part of the twenty-first century by Mike. It’s a familiar story – from
Bank to Betting Shop, and another lovely building has its looks sacrificed –
the bay window is just about the only part of the façade that looks anywhere
near the same as it used to…
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Image © Barclays Ref 30-1638
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Image © Mike Ingham November 2015
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