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 Martins
Bank opens this beautifully appointed Branch at High Wycombe in June 1951,
filling another gap in the Bank’s coverage of the home counties, encroaching
once more on the territory of its rivals. A sub-Branch is added at Chesham in
1967, but come the merger with Barclays, it is not required. High Wycombe
itself fares slightly better, and as a Branch of Barclays it manages to
remain open until 1985. A number of interior
photographs of the Branch are available, and as we will see below, they were
probably taken soon after it was first opened, as the interiors are quite
minimalist and austere.
Dark wood prevails in the customer area, and is that a
typewriter we see behind the scenes?
When Martins Bank Magazine first visits High Wycombe, the Branch is
barely three years old. The resulting
article is the usual mix of rapture at the fixtures and fittings,
interspersed with local history and staff profiles. One particular member of
the staff – whose image is not
shown in our gallery below – joins the service of Martins Bank at High
Wycombe in 1967 - one Miss L A
Shrimpton. As High Wycombe is also
home to World famous 1960s pin-up, the model Jean Shrimpton, we wonder if there might be a family
connection?
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In Service: June 1951
until 18 February 1985
Branch images © Barclays
Ref 0030-1315
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If YOU can shed any light on this, then please do get in touch with
us at the usual address, gutinfo@btinternet.com.
 In
the fair county of Buckinghamshire, life is lived more gently, more
graciously and Time itself seems older, mellower, more aware of the eternal
values than the industrial North. This may be an illusion, for people are
much the same the country over, when you get beneath the veneer of local
customs and outlook. Yet in the long run outlook must play a vital part in
building up tradition and here in Buckinghamshire one can sense the tradition
of the broad acres, of a rich and smiling countryside at which the finger of
squalor has never pointed as in the big cities. It is, therefore, something of a surprise to come upon
this sprawling, hilly town of over 40,000 people after passing through the
quiet and lovely villages which lie between it and the Capital.
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Images on
this page © Barclays Ref 0030-1315
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Yet it is entirely in keeping with the pastoral background
against which it has grown, for High Wycombe owes its industrial beginnings
and its rise as an important town to the beech woods and forests which
surrounded it and its pre-eminent position in the chair making industry
especially would be hard to challenge.
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In addition to the big firms there are numerous small
businesses thus engaged and the total number runs well into three figures. With this industrial start it is not surprising that
other industry, both connected and unconnected with the original basic industry,
should have been attracted. Paper making is an obvious example, but the
town now houses a fairly wide variety of light industries - hence the need for banks. The
Manager, Mr. P. M. M. Slatter, is a native of High Wycombe and has the advantage
of being known and of knowing the intricacies of the business problems of
the place intimately. After the hurly-burly of banking life at Holloway
Road, Kingsway, Fenchurch Street, then as Pro Manager at Moorgate and as
Assistant Accountant at 68, Lombard Street for three years, it was not
surprising to find him looking fresher, brighter and less strained than
many of his colleagues condemned to life in the City. The country does that
to you. When he
assumed the managership at High Wycombe in June 1951 the Cicala Players
lost in Paul Myrton one of their most talented amateur actors.
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Mr Frewin, Mr Maynard, Miss Williams and Mr Slatter
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This interest has been kept very much alive in High Wycombe,
however, though latterly Mr. Slatter has concentrated on producing. After the close of business we were very pleased to accept
the hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Slatter in their very pleasant home, standing
high above the town with spacious views from the windows, and, coming
straight from the Potteries, were most interested to discover that among her
many interests Mrs. Slatter is learning to be a potter herself.
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Images ©
Barclays Ref 0030-1315
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We inspected with great interest some of
her early pieces. The staff is an
all-Southern one—three
men and a girl, and all the men are married, even the junior member. R.
Maynard entered the Bank in 1943 and spent three years on the Relief Staff
before his move to High Wycombe. C. G. Frewin
started in 1951 after a couple of years as a Civil Servant at Northolt. He
definitely prefers banking. He is also a keen footballer and has to stand a
good deal of leg-pulling from his colleagues because of his membership of a
team which has so far never won a match. But it will! Miss C. V. M. Williams has only been in the Bank since
January. A native of Sidcup she applied to enter the Bank when her father's
business took him to High Wycombe where their home now is. She does her work
well and efficiently and her statements are a model of what statements should
be. The new branch is spacious and
attractively planned, with plenty of room for more staff as the business
grows. We think it undoubtedly will.
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Long to reign over us!
 This lovely photograph is from the private collection of
Martins Bank Branch Images kept by the late Geoff Taylor. Here we see High
Wycombe Branch in June 1953, decked out in celebration of the Coronation of
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second.
The photo has a special charm because it is a personal snapshot,
rather than being specially commissioned by the Bank. Geoff’s collection includes a dozen or so Branches of Martins Bank
located in the south and South East of England, and each is its own mini
social record of the early 1950s.
You can find the other pictures by visiting the following Branches:
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Image ©
Martins Bank Archive Collections – Geoff Taylor
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