Records of Bland, Barnett & Hoare relating to the operation of the private firm and its amalgamation with Hanbury & Lloyd, including:
Foundation
The origins of Bland, Barnett & Hoare date back to 1728. This marked the point at which the City of London goldsmith, John Bland, started to offer banking services to his customers. Bland traded under the now famous sign of the black horse in Lombard Street. However, the symbol itself had been used as early as 1677, by another Lombard Street goldsmith, Humphrey Stokes.
John Bland continued to run the bank until his death in 1764, upon which two of his sons and his widow carried on the business at its original premises. In 1749 the business moved to larger quarters at 62 Lombard Street. The bank would expand its operations in the subsequent decades, acquiring two new partners. In 1761 Benjamin Barnett became a partner. Eleven years later Samuel Hoare, a wealthy Quaker merchant, was also made a partner. It was in this year, 1772, that the firm became known as Bland, Barnett and Hoare.
John Bland's son, also called John, died in 1788 and thus ended the family's link with the bank. The business went through further name changes (Barnett Hoare, Hill & Barnett by 1790, Hoare, Hill & Barnett by 1800; Hoare, Barnett, Hoare & Co. by 1808) until it became Barnett, Hoare & Co. in 1826.
Takeover
In 1864 the bank merged with another Lombard Street bank, Hanbury & Lloyd (est. 1771) to form Barnetts, Hoares, Hanbury & Lloyd in which the Barnett partners were initially the dominant force.
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