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 The role of the staff of Martins Bank in World War II
is an honourable one, with many paying the ultimate price for the freedom of
their country. We lose branches too,
but those can be replaced unlike the lives of our brave staff who fight at
home and abroad. Banking is a vital
industry, and some unusual steps are taken to ensure that it can run smoothly
through such troubled times. Women are put incharge of some Branches, Head
Office departments are moved in case of bombing, and staff news is propagated
round the World via the forerunner of Martins Bank Magazine. This page and our special Wartime feature
sections offers a glimpse into the world our staff find themselves in between
1939 and 1945…
Special Features
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AMBLESIDE
BRANCH GIVES RESPITE TO STAFF FROM THE BOMBING OF THEIR TOWNS AND CITIES…
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EXETER
IS ONE OF A NUMBER OF MARTINS BANK’S BRANCHES TO BE DESTROYED BY ENEMY
ACTION…
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FEMALE
BANK MANAGERS? IN THE 1940S? EXPECT NOTHING LESS FROM MARTINS BANK!
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HOW
DOES ONE OF OUR STAFF COUNT BOTH CHURCHILL AND STALIN AMONG HIS FRIENDS?
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WE
OPEN THE FILES TO BRING YOU SOME
UNUSUAL “SECRET” WARTIME OPERATIONS
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Esprit de Corps…
  The
harsh reality of the Second World War is felt to some extent by every person,
organisation and industry in the land.
The Ministry of Labour makes regular decisions on the removal from
various occupations of able bodied men and women who can be sent to fight for
their country or to take part in the war effort by producing weapons and
equipment. Banks are regularly called
upon to release staff in this way, and in order that trading can continue,
temporary staff from the ranks of those NOT called to duty, are taken
on. The call up of staff continues
apace, and by September 1942, 1500 men and 160 women have gone from Martins
alone. Many will never return. The
Kennet Committee, meeting in late 1942, decides on just how many more will
go. By 1941 the danger from air raids is such that the staff at Martins Head
Office in Water Street are dispersed to locations at branches all over
Liverpool, so that the work of running the Bank can continue as safely as
possible. Martins Bank Archive holds
copies of five of the special duplicated newsletters issued half-yearly to
Martins colleagues in the forces by the Staff Manager’s Department, based
during the dispersal of Head office Staff at Martins Bank Ainsdale, and from
1943 back at Head Office in Water Street.
Martins Bank Magazine had yet to be born, but these letters are the
spark and they provide a fascinating and poignant insight into the lives of
so many Martins staff in wartime, and the way in which the Bank cares about
its staff. The letters are now too
frail to be viewed well enough by scan, but we have reproduced the text of
each as faithfully as we can, and you can read them here:-
The duplicated letters, and
their immense value to the staff of Martins Bank are described in FOUR CENTURIES OF BANKING © Martins Bank Limited 1964, from
which the following text is abridged:
 {During
the second world war, seven of the 570 branches of Martins Bank were destroyed
and 153 were damaged. 82 branches were closed during the war to release manpower.
Of the pre-war staff of 3,510, 1,596 men and 75 women joined the Forces or
were engaged on work of national importance; 88 men lost their lives. The
Head Office escaped serious bombing, although many of its important
neighbours were destroyed or seriously damaged. One bomb fell in the street
outside the staff entrance and tunnelled underneath the building before
exploding, partially wrecking one of the rotundas. On another occasion,
incendiary bombs fell on the building but were extinguished by the
fire-watchers before serious damage could be done. Details of the experiences of some of the
staff are contained in a series of duplicated letters which the staff
manager sent to members of the staff serving in the Forces. These letters met
a real need for a staff magazine, and at the end of the war they were
continued by the elegantly printed Martins
Bank Magazine, which has played an important part in developing the esprit de corps of the Bank. The duplicated letters recorded that Brown
Brothers, Harriman and Company arranged to send parcels to the Bank's staff,
who were prisoners of war. This arrangement continued until America entered
the war, when the American Red Cross decided that all prisoners of war should
have standard food packages. Furniss offered the staff of Brown Brothers,
Harriman and Company, who were on active service, hospitality at the Bank's
rest centre at Ambleside.
 The
experiences of some of the members of the staff of Martins Bank who lost
their lives give some idea of the services rendered by them—killed while fire-watching, drowned on leave,
direct hit by bombing, crashed in the Shetland Isles, killed during an air
raid on Bremen, died from wounds in Egypt, died in prisoner of war camp,
killed in an air raid on Kiel, killed on active service in North Africa, died
of diphtheria in North Africa, killed in a flying accident in the Middle
East, killed in action in Palestine, killed whilst driving a staff car in
Sicily, killed in action in the Central Mediterranean, killed at sea whilst
serving with the Fleet Air Arm, killed in action in Burma, killed as the
result of an accident in Normandy, killed in action in Italy, died from
wounds received in Holland whilst serving with an airborne unit, killed in a
flying accident in Southern Rhodesia, wounded in the shoulder whilst serving
with Wingate's Chindits, wounded on D-Day whilst serving with a paratroop
division in Normandy, died of wounds received in Aachen, died in a Japanese
prisoner of war camp. Many of the staff came through unusual
or varied experiences, which included minesweeping, invading Crete whilst
serving with the Royal Artillery, broadcasting in the Middle East, escaping
from Crete to Egypt, meeting a colleague in a Cairo cinema, shooting down a
Heinkel, being commissioned in the field, singing in the choir of Calcutta
Cathedral. Looking after naval stores in North Russia,
undertaking aggressive and courageous action in the flanks of enemy armoured
columns, spending several days in an open boat after being torpedoed off the
West African Coast. Arthur Birse, a manager of the Bank's overseas business,
acted as Russian interpreter for Winston Churchill and others, at the Moscow,
Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.}
A rain of
fire…
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The bombing of the towns and cities of England in World
War Two takes its toll on Martins Bank, with more than a hundred and fifty
Branches damaged, and seven written off altogether – six by complete
destruction, and one gradually, through a number of separate bomb
attacks. Writing in the Annual
Report and Accounts at the end of the War, the Bank’s Chairman Mr F A Bates
optimistically notes the following:
“We were fortunate during the war period in
regard to our premises. Out of a total of 570 Branches, only seven were
completely destroyed, although 153 sustained damage in varying
degrees. As soon as conditions permit,
substantial expenditure will be necessary to provide for extensions and
renewals of our premises and for repairs and renovations to restore them to
pre-war standards.”
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Out of the Ashes…
Many people remember
Martins’ role as the bank run by George Mainwaring, along with Chief Clerk
Arthur Wilson, and Cashier Frank Pike in Dad’s Army. After a number of episodes had been
transmitted, the BBC requested that the name of the Bank should be changed
to “avoid confusion” – hence the sudden arrival of “Swallow’s Bank”, but in
the 1971 film Mr Mainwaring’s Bank is rightly seen once more Martins.
In the film, the town that doubles as WALMINGTON
ON SEA is Chalfont St Giles. The set was dressed with
Martins Bank signage and a golden grasshopper on the outside of the
building. One episode of Dad’s Army
highlights the very real danger of an unexploded bomb in the Bank vault,
and another looks at the nightmare of counting all the money after a direct
hit! Behind this much loved comedy,
and its loyal homage to Martins, is the real story that many branches of
the bank suffer terrible devastation and the carnage of bombing in World
War II.
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©
1971 COLUMBIA/UNITED ARTISTS
AND
NORCON PRODUCTIONS
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You can read more on the individual pages for the branches
that were destroyed by enemy action –
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In 1945 two manuals are printed – ‘