Bank Holidays

25th May 2025

There are lots of bank holidays this month. But what does that mean?

Bank holidays were first introduced in 1871 by banker and liberal politician for Maidstone, Sir John Lubbock. Thinking about bank holidays led us to look at our range of resources for researching local banks and the people who ran and worked in them.

Lloyds Bank Badsey. WPS Badsey 42036. Photograph thanks to W T Gay 1968

There are items in the self-service area and original archives. We have newspapers on microfiche* in the self-service area and online through Gale Primary Sources. There are photographs on microfiche and a database of photographs on our website to search for references. We have directories on our reference shelves with details of local businesses and individuals. On Hive computers we also have access to Ancestry and Findmypast to search for individuals.

It is worth taking a look at our online catalogue, and looking through our slips index boxes, for references to original archives on particular banks.

Here are some examples of the sort of research you might like to do:

Local bank: Worcester’s Old Bank

Three storey stone building with a grand facade.

Lloyds Bank, Worcester. WPS Worcester: The Cross 31347. Photograph thanks to G N Hopcraft 1959

Originally known as the Berwick and Company Bank, Worcester Old Bank dates back to 1772, and was renamed as other partners joined, often through marriage. It later amalgamated with the Capital and Counties Bank Limited, and was owned by Lloyds Bank by 1921. Bank Manager Arthur Charles Cherry married in to the family and the bank. He became the Worcester County Council’s first Treasurer in 1889.

Marriage Entry in Parish Register for A C Cherry. From Worcestershire Parish Registers. Copyright Ancestry

Local bank staff: Francis Percival Brettell, Bewdley

Francis Percival Brettell of Old Swinford became a bank manager in Bewdley. We can watch his career progress through the census returns. In 1901 he was a bank clerk, by 1911 he was listed as a bank cashier and the 1921 census states he was bank manager for the London Joint City and Midland Bank, at Bank House, Bewdley. By 1939 he had retired to St Ives, Cornwall with wife, later moving to Devon.

Francis Percival Brettell, Bewdley, Banking career 1901, 1911, 1921. Census Crown Copyright, thanks to Ancestry

Savings Banks: Bewdley Savings Bank

We hold in the archives the rules for Savings Banks which could be accessed by ‘the industrious and lower classes’. In the Bewdley Savings bank (BA145 173), the trustees and managers of the savings bank included Peter Prattington and Rev Edward Winnington Ingram. The institution offered a service ‘every Monday from 1 to 2 o’clock’ where they could deposit ‘not less than one shilling’ and not more than ‘100 pounds during the first year’.

Handwritten document called 'Rules, Or4ders and Regulations of the Saving Bank 1818'

Bewdley Savings Bank (the first three rules) 173 BA145

Bank histories: Barclays Banks in Kidderminster and Bewdley

We have the histories of a couple of banks in the archives, Barclays Bank on Kidderminster’s Oxford Street (989.9:1525 BA14623), and Midland Bank in Bewdley (705:1055 BA9565). Kidderminster’s Barclays Bank was opened by Midland Banking Co Ltd in 1872 at 28 Church Street, before moving to Oxford Street. After several changes of ownership it was taken over by Barclay and Company Ltd in 1916.

Timeline image called 'From Birmingham to Barclays - the growth of a Bank"

History of Barclays Bank in Kidderminster 989.9:1525 BA14623, thanks to Barclays Bank Archives

News on Banks: Messrs Farley and co

A company called Messrs Farley and co went bankrupt in 1857 and in the aftermath a public meeting resulted in a long list of local businessmen signing their names to a “declaration of confidence” in Worcester’s banks. The newspapers also reported on forged bank notes at Old Worcester Bank in 1849, and in 1865 the Worcester Savings bank was defrauded by one of its own bank clerks.
[bank article: 19 Dec 1857] Article about Messrs Farley and Co. Photograph thanks to Gale Primary Sources online

For more information on the history of particular banks it can also be worth contacting the archives departments for those banks directly who are usually very helpful with information, photographs and ‘family trees’ of a bank’s history.

Newspaper article with heading 'The Worcester Banks important public meeting"

Midland Bank Worcester, the old branch before demolition. Worcester: Broad Street WPS37937. Photograph thanks to Newsquest 1967

* Due to an exciting digitisation project our newspapers on microfilm will be unavailable from Friday 18th April until further notice. If you have a specific enquiry please contact us and we will do our best to assist you.