Hello,
Just doing a google search to try and find which building in Sheffield might have been known as the National Bank, England in 1939 but I haven't found anything definitive. I know banks have amalgamated over the years and that Sheffield was bombed badly during WW2 so if anyone might know which building it was or on what street it was, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks, Rose

Delighted to say that I found a clue on the Totley History Group website - it was a bank on George Street. Cheers everyone

Rose,

Date T in the other thread mentioned a "National Bank" - I would bet that Francis Seed worked for the National Provincial & Union Bank of England Ltd, or "National Provincial". They took over the Sheffield Banking Company Limited, which had its headquarters at 16 George Street.

The National Provincial merged with the Westminster Bank, creating the National Westminster, which kept the offices t 16 George Street for years. The building is used for different things now, but it's still there and it's a listed building.

The National Provincial was a stuffy old-fashioned bank, when my dear old dad worked there before they merged into the National Westminster the manager told him to wear a shirt with a separate collar, and bring a second collar with him every day (to change into a clean collar at lunchtime).

Cheers,

Andrew P.

Andrew, that is brilliant information and that your father worked there and passed on to you the kind of work ethic they had, is great to know. A bit like 'Are you being served?' but in the banking world. Thank you, Rose

Rose,

Two other snippets of information I remember dad telling me:

Pen colours were regulated - black ink for staff, blue ink for management, and green ink for auditors.

The bank used to have a little ceremony and a presentation for any account holder who'd been with the bank for 100 years. The client got a piece of silverware.

That centenary ceremony used to crop up for firms. If someone had created a firm and opened an a/c with the Sheffield Banking Co in the 1850s, that same account could still be in use in the 1950s despite various mergers, restructurings, and name changes at the bank. I imagine that the customer might also have gone from being a partnership or sole trader in the 1850s to a limited liability company by the 1950s as well.

I don't think that the Westminster Bank was interested in the same depth of historical relationships with local companies that the National Provincial had kept going, and of course the type of little firm local firm that would stick with the same bank account for a century started to disappear as time wore on.

Naturally the staff had to balance the books for the branch every day before they went home - books out by 6d... nobody is leaving till we find that stray tanner! But I believe that was standard operating procedure in many bank branches and a small imbalance can hide a larger accounting problem (or fiddle).

Oh well, back to the historical records: I see that they lived in Chatsworth Road in 1911, that's a nice part of the world. I always thought of it as part of Dore but the census says it was part of Totley Rise. It's very handy for the Totley Rise Methodist Church in Grove Road.

Cheers,

Andrew P

Andrew, thanks so much for all that. We find the austere work etiquette they had back then almost comical especially when everything nowadays is so casual and laid-back. I love the detail about the different colour inks. I worked in a university library once where the elderly matriarch of the department I worked in was a bit like that. She disapproved of the littlest things, I was so glad to move on from there. From the research I did, thanks to the Totley Historical group, Francis's brother Alec married Beatrice Pogson, whose father Robert Pogson worked for the Sheffield Banking Company on George Street so effectively Francis's brother's father-in-law worked at the same bank as Francis and possibly they overlapped or dare I say, he might have helped him get the job.

Just received details re Francis J Seed from bank archives. And posting it here in case of interest to anyone else;

Francis James Seed

Born 13 August 1892. Entered Sheffield Banking Company 29 October 1914 at Highfield branch as a clerk.

In January 1916 he moved to Gainsborough branch. In 1919 Sheffield Banking Company was taken over by National Provincial & Union Bank of England (this bank’s name was shortened to National Provincial Bank in 1924). On 13 November 1925 he moved to Sheffield Bank Office branch, Sheffield (this branch is on George Street). On 23 September 1926 he moved to High Street branch, Sheffield. On 23 March 1927 he was promoted to cashier at that branch and on 27 May 1931 he was promoted to sign pro manager, which means that he was made the deputy manager of the branch. He retired on 1 November 1952 and died on 14 December 1965.