Crashes to crashes
Introduction
Victorian Bournemouth (246) finds that changes within the banking terrain during the 1890s may have altered perceptions of managers. An increase in choice for customers may have diluted the old, paternalistic position attainable, almost akin to the gentry. In addition, nomadic careers reduced the time spent in each posting. Late Victorian customers may have perceived their bank managers as occupying a less special place in local society than before.
Victorian Bournemouth (246): local developments in banking
Before 1897
Bournemouth’s early banking history included a much-publicised crash. In 1861, Ledgard Brothers, Poole, failed. Hitherto, they had supplied banking services in the resort. Within days, the Wilts & Dorset bank, an established network, had seized the opportunity to develop its presence through absorbing Ledgards. By the early 1870s, another network had arrived, the National Provincial. During the next decade, Eliot Pearce & Eliot (Weymouth) and R & R Williams (Dorchester) came to provide more banking choices at Bournemouth. Now, customers could compare larger, established corporations with two smaller family banks. At this time, elsewhere in the country, the banking industry experienced much change. A law to enable joint-stock banks to operate had opened opportunities, but consolidation and failures also became common events. The troubles affecting the Barings bank, early in the 1890s, may have contributed to a substantial restructuring at Bournemouth which would occur in 1897.
After 1897
Early in this year, adverse trading conditions caused Eliot Pearce & Eliot to close its doors. A larger network, Capital and Counties, took this opportunity through rescue to enter Bournemouth’s banking market. R & R Williams had offered help. Within weeks, however, this bank had accepted an offer from Wilts & Dorset. Thus, this established network, already present, took the opportunity to expand its local branches by repeating its action with Ledgards. In 1901, among many businesses supporting Bournemouth’s Regatta, five local banks featured: London and South-West, Wilts & Dorset, National Provincial, London City & Midland, and Lloyds. Thus, including Capital and Counties, Bournemouth’s banking landscape experienced significant development within a few years. Names had changed on some buildings, while new names appeared in the market. Bournemouth’s commercial acceleration during the 1890s had made it attractive to several networks which competed elsewhere in the country.
Victorian Bournemouth (246): notable managers
Old style
The career of John Grant Shepherd, during the twenty years spent at Bournemouth, illustrates how a bank manager might integrate into the community. He worked in Scottish banking during his early years, before moving to Vancouver. Returning to England, he worked first for Capital and Counties, then moved to Wilts & Dorset, Bournemouth. During his two decades here, he helped the bank develop into a local network, expanding across the suburbs. His obituary noted this occurred ‘thanks to his enterprise and business acumen’. Overall, ‘he attained a high position in local commercial and social circles’. By the 1880s, Shepherd had become an active community member. He served as treasurer to several local groups, from the Bicycle Club to a soup kitchen fund. After Bournemouth’s incorporation as a civic borough, Shepherd became its treasurer. Two others, Edward Cross and Joseph Sandell, had similar community links, the latter active for Boscombe Hospital.
New style
After the reconstruction of Bournemouth’s banking supply during the 1890s, the type of manager may have changed. Their social origin, for example, may have become less exclusive. For five managers, their fathers had worked in less respectable occupations: station master, schoolteacher, carpenter, tailor, and labourer. In some cases, their marriages may not have brought social advantages. Two men left banking after managing branches in Bournemouth. One appeared to lose his way, becoming a solicitor’s clerk, then serving in the same capacity at a steel mill, after which he worked as a warehouseman. Another, a clergyman’s son, after many years working for Mammon, changed his career by turning to his father’s calling. During the 1890s, press reports of community activity performed by the increased number of managers seem less prevalent. The number of social groups, however, continued to increase, in particular as suburban life acquired a richer tapestry.
Victorian Bournemouth (246): cultural developments
Pillars
Bournemouth grew from a greenfield site. A hotel and string of mansions, its first planned commercial presence, in a few decades became a sprawling town, with several suburbs. The early community grew around a handful of prominent men. Furthermore, little choice existed within services. For example, residents had no choice of worship other than St Peter’s. This offered a High Church ritual, not palatable to all. The incumbent, Rev AM Bennett, took full advantage of the situation to become prominent within the community. His influence reached beyond religious matters. Then a change occurred. The resort gained more choices of Anglican worship. Holy Trinity offered Low Church services. Non-conformism became an option. Thus, by the end of the century, the population of religious ministers had increased much since Bennett’s monopoly. A similar process occurred within the retinue of bank managers. Numbers grew; customers had a wider choice.
Posts
A study of bank managers, retired at Bournemouth during the 1890s, suggests that several had enjoyed a social elevation similar to that of Rev Bennett. Ensconced for decades in small towns whose economy operated at a simple level, such men could reach notable levels of social acclaim. Retirement testimonials involved much praise for them as community members. A bank manager in such communities, thus, had the opportunity to achieve social prominence that arrayed him beside the physician and the minister. Later, however, the country’s banking landscape altered. Joint-stock banks replaced, in some cases absorbing, the old private institutions. As the Wesleyans rotated their ministers within three years, a manager employed by a national banking network might also become a career nomad. Thus, opportunities for a man to establish widespread and lengthy community influence, as Bennett or Shepherd, became fewer. At best, bank managers could become social ‘posts’, not pillars.
Takeaway
Victorian Bournemouth (246) has speculated that, during the 1890s, the community position attainable by bank managers changed. Hitherto, perhaps seen as akin almost to the gentry, managers had enjoyed a special place within their communities. The increased and systematic development within banking, however, may have made it harder for managers to attain such a position. At Bournemouth, during the 1890s, the population of bank managers appears to have included men of both types.
References
For references and engagement, please get in touch. Main primary sources: here and here (subscriptions needed). See also here and here.
Kitablios