Goslings and Sharpe, private bankers, Fleet Street (London): branch records including customer ledgers

Branch records including customer ledgers from 1717 onwards, the main series running to 1896, with a subsequent series between 1927 and 1959. Each ledger includes an index of names of account holders in that volume. Although most accounts are for individuals or family trusts, there are also non-personal accounts such as those of charities (including some schools and hospitals), public subscriptions (including relief of soldiers and of victims of natural disasters), colleges, businesses, and a few public corporations and parishes. A number of interesting entries may be found by browsing the non-personal accounts in the database index e.g. 'Subscription for erecting a pillar at Runny Mead in memory of the Revolution in 1688', commencing in 1788; and 'Jennerian Society for Vaccine Innoculation' in 1803. For examples of notable non-personal accounts see: 'Access Points: Corporate Names' (below).

Some accounts are signed periodically by the customer, as the record of audit. Each account is arranged as credits and debits, with the source of many credits and debits being either named or described e.g. names of payees, stocks and securities purchased.

The ledgers have potential for research in the following fields: biography, family history, local history, estate management, institutional history, trade and business history, the arts, accounting history, investment. A couple of examples of detailed use of the ledgers are: tracing payments for furniture made by Thomas Chippendale, and tracing payments for English silverware in the 18th century.

The personal account holders at Goslings comprised a cross-section of moneyed society between the early Georgian and late Victorian periods, including members of the aristocracy, landed gentry, political figures, churchmen, artists and writers. For examples of notable accounts identified so far, see: 'Access Points: Personal Names' and 'Family Names' (below).

The Goslings ledgers constitute one of a handful of more or less complete sets of customer account ledgers to have survived in the United Kingdom, and are thus considered an important source for banking history.

Other records:

• Signature books 1806-1896
• Customer correspondence, orders and bonds 1719-1913
• Examples of cheques, cheque books and bills of exchange c1714-1960
• Examples of pass books 1795-1951
• Safe registers 1906-1936
• Papers re accounts of WSPU and others, produced for suffragette trials 1912-1913
• Securities ledgers 1910-1972
• Loans ledgers 1914-1952
• Staff lists, agreements and salary records 1759-1932
• Premises papers and drawings 18th-20th centuries
• Papers re automation of the branch 1961-1962
• Photographs of premises c1890-1968
• artefacts including a sword deposited by General Cadogan in 1864 and a post-Great Fire pewter shop sign depicting the Three Squirrels

One of the oldest City banks, the partnership originated c1650 with Henry Pinckney, a goldsmith banker trading from the sign of the three squirrels in Fleet Street, London. The firm was led subsequently by the Chambers family. Other early partners' names include Nicholls, Wanley, Fowler, Cradock, Rocke and Ward. In 1742 Sir Francis Gosling joined the firm and thereafter the Gosling name predominated in the partnership. The Goslings' original trade was that of stationers. In 1743 Samuel Bennet, a wealthy East India merchant, joined Sir Francis and brought his important Indian connections to the business, including the Clives, one of whom, George, became a partner in the bank in 1763. In 1794 Benjamin Sharpe, hitherto a clerk in the bank, joined the firm and from that time the customary name of the business was Goslings and Sharpe, the Sharpes remaining as junior partners with no right to nominate their successors.

In 1896 Goslings was one of 20 banks (all but one being private partnerships) that came together to create the new joint stock bank of Barclay & Company Limited, in a merger that was said to be the largest yet seen in Britain.

Two of the senior partners joined the board of Barclays as directors, and all but one became local directors, the ancient banking house at 19, Fleet Street being designated as one of the original local head offices of the new company.This building, with a facade dating from the 1780s, was demolished and rebuilt at the turn of the 19th century, the bank removing temporarily to 40, Carey Street in April 1898. The rebuilt premises, designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield (who also worked on Barclays' head office), in an early baroque style at a cost of £31,000, have housed the present Barclays branch since 1900.

The ledgers are arranged alphabetically by surname or title of customer, and proceed chronologically e.g. names beginning A-E and names beginning F-I covering the years 1779-81 are in consecutive ledgers.

A distinct series of ledgers containing non-personal accounts seems to have been commenced in 1839, these ledgers being marked X, with later series marked Y and Z respectively. The names of these account holders are also entered in the indexes to the main series.

Barclays Group Archives is open for access to research visitors throughout the year, by appointment. E-mail: grouparchives@barclays.com . Full contact details: Barclays Group Archives, Dallimore Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M23 9JA. Telephone 0330 1510159.

web: https://www.archive.barclays.com/

Customer records are subject to extended closure/access conditions.

Goslings branch of Barclays Bank PLC (19 Fleet Street), 1990

All records are described on BGA's main 'Archives' database, and full or part-catalogues may be generated on request. Customer ledgers from 1717 to the 1850s have been indexed by names of account holders, drawn from the original ledger indexes, in a separate dedicated database created originally by the Furniture History Society and continued subsequently by BGA's team of volunteer indexers with the aim of completing the main run of ledgers which ends in 1896. Both databases are searchable at the repository, but requests for remote searching are welcome.

Otherwise, the integral index to each ledger must be searched.

Most of the ledgers are large and heavy bound volumes

Reproduction or publication of any customer record is subject to permission of the account holder's estate or successors.

The records were created and maintained in the branch, until being transferred to Barclays Group Archives for better preservation and access

Records of the partnership are summarized in a separate Hub entry: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/eb704dfb-bfb6-3c11-ae7c-42e8afacb73b

These include:

• Partnership agreements 1719-1891
• Profit and loss ledgers (13 volumes) 1727-1845
• Balance books (14 volumes) 1742-1896
• Country bank ledgers (25 volumes) 1787-1834
• Examples of promissory notes 18th century
• Papers re publication of Statutes at Large, 1715-1759
• Partners' business and family papers inc genealogical notes, photographs 1680-1929
• Amalgamation papers 1896-1898

• [G Assinder], A study of the ledgers of Goslings & Sharpe together with explanatory historical notes (internal typescript article 1960)
• The History of Gosling's Branch (Barclays 1982)
• M Ackrill & L Hannah, Barclays: the business of banking 1690-1996 (Cambridge: University Press 2001)
• P W Matthews & A W Tuke, History of Barclays Bank Limited: including the many private and joint stock banks amalgamated and affiliated with it (Blades, East & Blades 1926)