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Martins Bank’s South
Western  District will not be created until around 1960, but
well before that, the Bank has established a number of key branches, and
scattered them throughout the South West of England. Bath opens in 1937 and is placed to begin
with into Midland District. The arrival of Martins Bank’s Branch in the City
of Bath can only be heralded by a newspaper advertisement in the local press,
similar to our example below (right).
Television is in its infancy, and
there is no radio advertising, so newspapers and magazines are used by most
banks to advertise their products or branch locations. Martins Bank Magazine
also got in on the act when a new branch opened, dispatching staff with
notepad and pen at the ready, to introduce us to the staff who worked there.
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In Service: 8 November 1937 until 13 May 1977
Branch Images ©
Barclays Ref 0030-0124
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In the following feature entitled
“Outposts”, printed in its Autumn 1949 issue, Martins Bank Magazine heads to
the South West to seek out those pioneering members of the Bank’s Staff who
have established Branches of the Bank in places such as Bristol, Taunton,
Torquay, Exeter, Plymouth and, of course, Bath. With the Head Office of the Bank
being in Liverpool, Branches in the far South West of England can indeed be
thought of as outposts…
 We
went by road to Bath, a
pleasant run through beautiful country, and made our way to Milsom Street via
Comfortable Place and Quiet Street. Although the latter name is not quite
applicable, we are sure our friends at Bath will not misunderstand us when we
say that the former is certainly apt.
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Image
© Martins Bank Archive Collections
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  Bath
is a beautiful place in which to have to work, and the photograph does not
belie the impression we received that Mr. Haighton heads a very happy family,
and a very good team, too. Mr. Haighton himself is a bit of a cosmopolitan. He entered the bank in the Craven District
in 1924 and has seen service in both the Leeds and the London Districts
before going to the Midland District as
Manager of Bath in 1946. He is one of the chosen few to have attended the
Staff Administrative College at Henley and has entered into the life of Bath
with great zest. Outside banking and domestic interests his first love is
the Territorials. After serving throughout the last war he is now Commanding
Officer of the 255 Medium Regiment R
A (W.S.Y.), T.A. J. H. Owen is
his second man. He started his career
in the London District in
1930 and after service at various branches there went to Bath in 1940. R. C. Wilkins is a North-Easterner who
started at Newcastle in 1931, going south in 1937. whence he returned in 1945
after service throughout the war. The remainder of the staff are
“locals”. A. J. A. James entered the
service at Clifton in 1941 and after war service, followed by a spell on Head
Office Relief Staff, Went to Bath in 1948. B.
H. Crossey started at Bath in 1947. Miss Ryall
has been at Bath since 1943; Miss Silcox since 1946 and Miss Curtis since
1947. We are sorry to say that Miss
Silcox has now left us; but her place has been taken by Miss P. M. Turner.
Sadly for us, Martins Bank Magazine does not at this
early stage in its existence, publish the names of the staff who feature in group
photos, save for the occasional mention of which one of them is Manager!
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