The Brecon Old Bank was founded in

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

in 1778 by John Wilkins (1713–1784), who was highly regarded by the directors of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

.Early Banks in West Wales, by Francis Green (in West Wales Historical Records, The Annual Magazine of

The Historical Society of West Wales ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' ...

, Volume VI, edited by Francis Green, Printed by W. Spurrell & Son, 1916)

Development

The bank was originally operated under the style Wilkins & Co. and developed steadily, opening up branches in

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

, in 1812, and Cardigan,

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

and

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest ( , ; ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a Community (Wales), community consisting of 12,042 people, making it the secon ...

, in 1832. The branch at Brecon is now the site of

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...

.Haslam, R., 2001,

Pevsner Architectural Guides The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pu ...

, The Buildings of Wales,

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

, Penguin Books/University of Wales Press The branch at Cardigan was located on the High Street next to Lloyds Bank.Lloyd., T., Orbach., J., Scourfield, R., 2006,

, The Buildings of Wales, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, Yale University Press After 1830, the enterprise operated under the name Brecon Old Bank. The bank did well in

West Wales West Wales () is a region of Wales. It has various definitions, either covering Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, which historically comprised the Welsh principality of ''Deheubarth'', and an alternative definition is to include Swa ...

, but did encounter a run against its assets in 1866, the year of the

Overend, Gurney and Company Overend, Gurney and Company was a London wholesale banking, wholesale discount bank, known as "the bankers' bank", which collapsed in 1866 owing about £11 million, equivalent to £ million in . The collapse of the institution triggered a bankin ...

failure in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Around a hundred

depositor A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings account A savings account is a bank account at a retail banking, retail bank. Commo ...

s claimed that they wanted their money back to erect water mills, while others said they wanted to build new houses and other buildings. However, bank officials had sufficient resources to meet all calls for this fictional building boom, and all

cheque A cheque (or check in American English) is a document that orders a bank, building society, or credit union, to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing ...

s were paid promptly. Depositors were then invited to re-deposit money with the bank once their fears were over. The run on the bank lasted seven days. Afterwards, nearly every depositor reopened an account at the bank.

Sale to Lloyds Bank

In 1890, Brecon Old Bank was sold to Lloyds Bank Ltd., after a successful period of trading. Around 1876, the partners in the bank were John Evans, William de Winton, Henry Jones Evans, T. J. Evans, E. B. Evans and W. S. de Winton. W. S. De Winton became an active director in Lloyds Bank Ltd.

References

External links

Cheque of Brecon Old Bank paid out to Madame Patti Nicolini
(see

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was a Spanish-Italian opera singer. At the height of her career, she was earning huge fees performing in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, a ...

) Defunct banks of Wales Banks established in 1778 1778 establishments in Wales Companies based in Powys British companies established in 1778

Development

Sale to Lloyds Bank

References

Further reading

External links