Scottish Banking(part 16)

One of the smaller Glasgow banks, Messrs.
Thomsons’, which was opened on 4th October 1785
, was the sufferer by a remarkable robbery of notes
which took place on Friday night, 29th October 1791.
 A mahogany box containing £1600 in guinea and
 twenty-shilling notes,of Messrs. Thomsons’ issue,
 and twelve bills, which had been put in a small sack
 and sent on a carrier’s cart by Mr. Gavin Stewart
of Cumnock,addressed to the bank,was stolen off
the cart in going along the streets. A reward of £200
 was advertised, and " no questions asked.".

 On the 17th November following the box was found
 by a country lad while clearing out a dunghill in
Saltmarket, where it had been hid and never opened.
The reward was promptly paid to the lucky finder.

The Ship Bank used to be closed from one till two
 o’clock daily; and it was part of the duty of the youngest
apprentice to protect its treasure during the night,
for which purpose he was armed with a gun, powder-
horn, and a few charges of slugs, and locked in till
morning, a "box-bed" being fitted up in the telling-
room for his convenience. A bugle lay beside him
 to sound an alarm. For this dangerous service
 he received a present at the annual balance of
£1,10s,6d.

The year 1793 was one of extraordinary commer-
cial depression in this country, and particularly in
Glasgow which suffered at the time from the loss
 of its colonial trade. Dr. Strang writes thus of this
 calamitous period :-

(£1600 - TODAY = £181,000 approx)
(£200- TODAY = £22,600 approx)
(£1.10.6d - TODAY =£93.00 approx)
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/calculator/flash/index.htm

More to follow..........

Scottish Banking(part 14)

The bank existed fifty-eight years—namely, from
1785 till 1843. At this latter date the partners were
Messrs. John Scott, shipbuilder, Greenock;
Charles C. Scott of Hawkhill, near Largs;
Jas. Hunter of Halton,Dunoon ; Wm. Smith of
Fullwood, merchant, Liverpool; Alexander Thomson
and John Thomson, bankers, Greenock.
 In November 1843 these partners disposed
of their whole interest in the bank to the
 Western Bank, for a large consideration. The
 Glasgow Branch was then closed, and the Greenock
 Bank ceased to exist as an independent
establishment, although the old name was retained
 by the- purchasers fourteen years longer as a
 branch of their own in Greenock.
This was the last private bank in Scotland.

The third bank which sent a branch to Glasgow
was the Paisley Union. This bank was established at
Paisley in May 1788.

In 1789 a branch was opened in Glasgow. The first
office was in a flat up two stairs at No. 17 High Street.
The first agent was Mr. James Elliot Henderson of
Enoch Bank, one of the partners.

In 1802 Mr. Andrew Templeton became the agent,
and continued so twenty-seven years. When Mr.
Templeton joined the Paisley Union, the bank office
was at 17 Glassford Street; but in 1805 it was removed
to the low floor of the tenement at the north—east
corner of Hutcheson and Ingram Streets, entering from
the latter. There it remained till the last.



During Mr. Templeton's agency of the Paisley Un-
ion the office in Ingram Street was robbed by three
noted London thieves. It made a great noise at the
time. The robbery took place early in the morning of
Sunday, 14th July 1811, and the amount stolen was
£20,000. With this large sum the thieves got clear off
to London in a post-chaise and four. The Bow Street
officers recovered £12,000 shortly after through the
medium of a London boxer, who acted as
 middle-man between them and the robbers,
 but only a portion............


(£20,000 - TODAY = £1,211,000.00)
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/calculator/flash/index.htm
more to follow..............

Scottish Banking(part 13)

....at Paisley only the year previous, having
commenced there on 1st October 1783. Up till
 that time all the The banking business of Paisley
 was transacted in Glasgow.

The next private bank which placed a branch in
Glasgow was Messrs. Dunlop, Houston, Gammell,&
Co.,bankers in Greenock,better known as the
 " Greenock Bank." They did so on Thursday, 28th
 July 1785. The bank commenced in Greenock on
 the previous Monday.

The Greenock Bank transacted a large business.
Besides Glasgow, they had branches at Rothesay,
Lochgilphead, etc., and an extensive and influential
connection with the West Highlands. They had also
a large circulation in Cumberland, Westmorland, and
the Isle of Man, and for many years were the Govern-
ment bank in Greenock, for receiving and remitting
to London the customs and other branches of the
public revenue.

On Sunday, 9th March 1828, the bank was robbed
of £28,350 by English thieves. One of them, named
Henry Saunders, was tried, but acquitted in September
following. Most of the money stolen was, however,
recovered afterwards.

(£28,350-TODAY = £2,310,000)

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/calculator/flash/index.htm

More to follow............