Martins Bank
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| Industry | Banking |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired by Barclays Bank |
| Successor | Barclays Bank Limited |
| Founded | 1831 |
| Defunct | 1969 |
| Headquarters | 4 Water Street, Liverpool 2 |
| Subsidiaries | Lewis's Bank Limited |
| Website | Barclays Group Archives: Martins Bank |
Martins Bank was a London private bank, trading for much of its time under the name of “The Grasshopper”, that could trace its origins back to the London goldsmiths. Martins agreed to its acquisition by the Bank of Liverpool in 1918. The Bank of Liverpool wanted Martins to give it a London presence and a seat on the London Clearing House; the Martins name was retained in the title of the enlarged bank which was known as The Bank of Liverpool and Martin's Limited. The title was shortened to Martins Bank Limited (without an apostrophe) in 1928 at the insistence of the directors of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank when it was bought by the Bank of Liverpool and Martins. The Head Office and managerial control remained firmly in Liverpool, cementing Martins' place as the only British national bank to have its Head Office outside London
The history of Martins Bank is intertwined with the Grasshopper, the sign under which the Bank traded and was known in its early years. Tradition has it that Thomas Gresham founded the bank in 1563. Although he is believed to be the first to use the sign of the Grasshopper in Lombard Street but does not appear to have had any connection with the Martins. Chandler states that there are differences of opinion as to when the Grasshopper became a bank and John Martin did not purchase the freehold of the Grasshopper until 1741.
The Martin family were among the early London Goldsmiths. In 1558 Richard Martin was elected a liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company and later a Master of the Mint and Lord Mayor of the City of London. Successive generations of Martins ran the bank that was popularly referred to as “The Grasshopper” but the partnership went through various incarnations, including Martins, Stone and Blackwell, and Martin Stone and Foote in the eighteenth century; and Martin and Company in 1844.
The London private bankers typically confined themselves to their one office, although Martins did have the occasional branch where individual partners lived. It meant that, compared to the joint stock banks, Martins' growth was limited. Following the panic that followed the collapse of Barings Bank in 1890, Martins finally decided to become a limited company (1891). This prompted a more expansionist approach but the bank “thought only of amalgamations with other private banks”. There was an unsuccessful approach to Cocks Biddulph, with which there were family links, but the realisation that “expansion to the provinces was now essential” led to the bank agreeing, in 1914, to its acquisition by the Bank of Liverpool. The Martins name had valuable prestige and a seat on the London Clearing House; when the delayed “merger” was consummated after the First World War, the family name was retained in the title Bank of Liverpool and Martins.
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