In this issue,
R K Vyst
consults her bankers, to find the answers
to frequently asked questions
in Scotland's archives relating to
banks and banking

Question 1. I want to find out about the history of Scottish banking, or a particular bank. Where do I start?

Answer: my advice is to start by reading published works on the history of banking and four main bank groups operating in Scotland: Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank and Lloyds TSB. Also of importance is the Co-operative Bank. Each bank is the result of a number of amalgamations over the last 300 years. General reference books on the subject include S Checkland, Scottish Banking, A History, 1695-1973 (Collins, 1975) and A W Kerr, History of Banking in Scotland (Glasgow, 1884). If you are interested in a specific bank, you will find that each has published a history and this may contain the information you need. If not, you should contact the Archives Department of the bank concerned. Contact details can be found in British Archives: A Guide to Archive Resources in the United Kingdom (Macmillan Press, 1995), The Directory of Corporate Archives (Business Archives Council, 1992) and British Banking: A Guide to historical records by J Orbell & A Turton (Ashgate, 2001). Savings banks are not included in Orbell & Turton, but in Scotland the majority came together as the Trustees Savings Bank Scotland, whose records have been deposited at Glasgow University Archives Services. The fate of smaller banks can be found in Orbel & Turton or the Guide or the Register of Bank Name Changes (Reed, 1992). Also a very useful guide to early amalgamations is Charles Munn, The Scottish Provincial Banking Companies, 1747-1864 (John Donald, 1981). If you have access to the Internet you can get further information about bank records from the Historical Manuscripts Commission web site.

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Question 2. I am a bank note collector.What can you tell me about Scottish bank notes?

Answer: the Scottish banks are very proud of their bank notes. Indeed, they have been issuing them since their foundation. Each bank designs and issues its own notes. Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank issue £5,£10, £20,£50, and £100 notes, the Royal Bank does not issue a £50.No notes bear an image of the Queen. The Royal Bank of Scotland also still issues the £1 note and since 1992 has produced limited edition commemorative notes to celebrate a variety of events ranging from the European Summit held in Edinburgh in 1992 to the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 2000. None of the other banks operating in Scotland issue their own banknotes. Scottish bank notes are very collectable. A general guide to Scottish banknotes can be studied in James Douglas, Scottish Banknotes (Stanley Gibbons, 1975). Further advice on values and scarcity can be found in James Douglas’ books: 20th Century Scottish Banknotes Vols. 1 & 2 & 3 (Banking Memorabilia 1984-1998) and on The Royal Bank of Scotland web site, . Also useful is Banknote Yearbook, 2001 (Token Publishing, 2000).

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Question 3. I am an architecture student doing a project on a former bank branch, which is now a trendy wine bar. Where should I look for information about its history?

Answer: first of all have a good look at the exterior of the premises to see if there are any clues in the fabric of the building (such as building dates, former bank names or initials in the stonework etc). You might also approach the staff or management of the building to ask when the building was converted to its present use, but don’t be too hopeful of getting accurate information this way quickly. You should now visit a local studies library and consult a good general guide to banking architecture: John Booker, Temples of Mammon: The Architecture of Banking (Edinburgh University Press, 1990). For published information about the building you are interested in look in the Listed Buildings List and local architectural guides. Of these, the most comprehensive are the Penguin Buildings of Scotland series, which now covers Glasgow, Edinburgh, Lothian, Fife, Highland, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland’s Illustrated Architectural Guides, published by Mainstream Publishing, covering most areas of Scotland. These usually devote a few sentences to each building of architectural interest, and bank buildings tend to excite the passions of architectural writers one way or another. Do not treat these as gospel, however, especially regarding the dates of construction and the names of architects and builders. If you have time, you should verify what you have found in published sources by looking at contemporary records or publications. The local studies library and/or local authority archive should have Post Office Directories and/or valuation rolls, and these should confirm the name of the bank(s) that operated the branch. If a newspaper covered the opening of the bank, the report might include details of the architect and building contractors. You should take the advice of the local studies librarian concerning the existence or otherwise of newspaper indexes. Now you should approach the archive of the bank concerned (or its successor) using the guides to bank amalgamations and records mentioned in the answer to question 1 above. Staff at the relevant bank archive will be able to check their property records, architectural plans and photograph collections to give you the name of the architect, the date of erection and alterations and copies of any photographs of the interior and exterior. You might also try the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland’s web site.

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Question 4. My great grandfather worked in a bank and I want to know about his career. I would love a photograph too.

Answer: first of all you need to be sure of the full name of your great grandfather. Then you need to have some idea of the bank for which he worked; if you don’t it won’t matter too much because you can contact all of them but it will mean the search takes a lot longer. Dates and places of work are essential to facilitate the search. Bank archives usually have comprehensive sets of staff records organised either by branch/office name or alphabetically by surname. From these, with luck, you will be able to glean information about your great grandfather, such as his date of birth, home address, position in the bank, salary and progress in banking exams. Beware though, because these records usually refer to any minor glitches too! Photographs are harder to trace, especially if you are looking for someone who worked in the bank in the nineteenth century. Some do survive but they are usually very formal and serious. In a number of banks it was usual to have a photograph taken when you became an ‘official’ of the bank. This was not by way of celebration, but so that an image could be handed to the police if you defaulted, and ran off! records

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Question 5. Whilst clearing out my house I found an old passbook from the 1950s, which has 5d in. How do I trace the account and find out if I am a millionaire now?

Answer: alas, banks normally paid no interest on sums of money under £1.00, irrespective of whether it was a current or savings account. First of all you need to find out if the bank in which you deposited the money is still in existence. If it is, then you are off to a flying start; if it isn’t then you need to consult British Banking: A Guide to historical records by J Orbell & A Turton (Ashgate, 2001) or the Register of Bank Name Changes (Reed, 1992) which will give you the names of successor bodies. You then need to visit your nearest branch to get a Dormant Bank Accounts British Bankers Association (BBA) form. Complete this and send it to the address printed on the back with proof that the account is yours or, if it is for a deceased relative, that you have some bona fide connection with that person. When the relevant bank receives your form they will search their dormant or closed account databases to trace the account. If all is well the bank will credit you with the capital plus any other interest accrued from the date of the last transaction. Don’t go mad with the champagne, though - interest rates were not very high for most of the 1950s and 1960s.records

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Question 6. I believe that my ancestor had a bank account with a Scottish bank. How can I find out?

Answer: with great difficulty. Before 1960 most people had their wages paid weekly in cash. An estimate suggests that in Scotland only one in three males and one in ten females had bank accounts before 1950. If people had spare cash they tended to save with the Co-op Savings Bank, the Post Office, penny banks or with one of the local savings banks (now Lloyds TSB). Penny and savings banks, which arose in the nineteenth century, took small deposits ranging from a penny to a shilling from the ‘industrious poor’. Their regional and local nature make identifying where deposits were made easier. The use of customer declarations allows individual depositors, often women, to be identified and traced through the accounting system. Monthly payment of salaries directly into a bank account is a feature of computerisation in the 1960s. The other problem is that although banks maintain records of unclaimed accounts, most customer records are destroyed 21 years after the transaction. This practice has been even more rigorously applied since the 1998 Data Protection Act, which requires that redundant personal data be eliminated ‘when it is no longer needed’. You also have to demonstrate that you have a legal right to see the account.

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R K Vyst is grateful to Vicki Wilkinson (Royal Bank of Scotland), Alan Cameron (Bank of Scotland), and Simon Bennet (Glasgow University Archives Services).