Samuel Smith & Co (Derby)

This private bank was established in 1806 as Samuel Smith & Co by Samuel Smith III and his brothers, George and John Smith, partners in other Smith family banks. Indeed this was their fifth bank following the formation of Samuel Smith & Co of Nottingham; Smith, Payne & Smiths of London; Smith, Ellison & Co of Lincoln; and Samuel Smith, Bros & Co of Hull.

The Derby business was based on the acquisition of the business of Richardson & Co (est. c.1778), bankers of Derby, owned by local merchants Samuel and Henry Richardson. The firm traded from Tenant Street and issued it own notes. It was also known as Derby Bank.

In 1814 John Henry Smith, son of George Smith, became resident partner until moving to the Hull bank in 1828. In 1824 the bank house moved to Rotten Row, premises which were enlarged and rebuilt in the late 1870s. In 1809 the balance sheet totalled £102,000 and grew to £265,000 by 1825. Customers included W, G & J Strutt, cotton spinners.

The firm was styled Samuel Smith, George Smith, John Smith, Abel Smith & Samuel George Smith by 1812; Samuel, George, John, Abel, John Henry & Henry Smith by 1829; Abel, M T, George R & Alfred Smith by 1846; Rowland, Robert, Francis Nicholas & Eric Carrington Smith by 1887 and Samuel Smith & Co by 1902.

During the nineteenth century the connections between the Smith family partners loosened and each bank became more autonomous of the London business. In 1902 the bank joined the other Smith family banks in merging with Union Bank of London Ltd of London, to form Union of London & Smiths Bank Ltd.

Branches: In 1902 one branch was operating.

Published histories

• JASL Leighton-Boyce, Smiths the bankers 1658-1958 (London: privately published by National Provincial Bank, 1958)

Our archive holdings

A summary list of our archival records of Samuel Smith & Co (Derby) can be found on the Archives Hub website.