Finsbury & City of London Savings Bank records

Management and publicity records of the Finsbury & City of London Savings Bank.

Finsbury Savings Bank was opened on 5 August 1816 at St. John's Square, Clerkenwell Green, Islington. 'It had a modest beginning in a room in a house where a few people gathered together to form a savings bank for small tradesmen, labourers and servants.' (Philip see below) Many were invited to become members and depositors and the minimum amount that could be deposited at one time was a shilling. The bank later became known as the Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank.

Despite its reputation as a small establishment for poor people Finsbury Savings Bank generated an interesting body of high profile customers, namely the novelist Charles Dickens. He was a depositor of trust funds for a Bertha Wight of Daywell near Oswestry.

On 5 April 1841 the bank moved premises to Sekforde Street. In 1961 the bank moved to premises at Goswell Road, London. The Sekforde premises were retained by the company and used until the early 1970s as the Bank's Data Processing Centre.

On May 21 1942 the Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank amalgamated with the London Savings Bank. The premises of the former head office of the Finsbury and City of London Savings Bank became the main office of the Savings Bank Institute on New Years Day 1949. In 1971 the London Savings Bank became part of the London and South Eastern TSB, which in turn became part of TSB South East.

Access is by appointment only, and at the discretion of the Archivist. Please e-mail archives@lloydsbanking.com for further information.