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Williams, Deacon & Co
Williams, Deacon & Co Ltd (1771-1890), established in London, was a past constituent of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Brief history
This private bank was established as Raymond, Williams, Vere, Lowe & Fletcher in Cornhill, City of London, in 1771 and subsequently moved to Birchin Lane nearby. It traded by a number of names. In 1825 the bank stopped payment following the collapse of fellow London bankers Pole, Thornton & Co. It was reformed with new partners the following year, under the name Williams, Deacon, Labouchere & Co.
In 1890 it was taken over by Manchester & Salford Bank Ltd, for which it had acted as London agent since 1836, to form Williams Deacon & Manchester & Salford Bank. The head office of the merged bank was established in Birchin Lane, City of London, in order to retain Williams, Deacon & Co’s membership of the London Clearing House.
Detailed list of name changes
- Raymond, Williams, Vere, Lowe & Fletcher 1771-8
- Lowe, Vere, Williams & Jennings 1778
- Lowe, Vere & Williams 1778-85
- Vere & Williams 1785-8
- Vere, Williams, Son, Wilkinson & Drury 1788-9
- Williams, Son, Wilkinson & Drury 1790-1
- Williams, Son & Drury 1792-9
- Williams, Son, Drury & Moffat 1797-1807
- Williams, Son, Drury, Moffat & Burgess 1808-9
- Williams, Son, Moffat & Burgess 1810-1
- Williams, Son, Moffat, Burgess & Lane 1812-4
- Williams, Williams & Burgess c.1815-22
- Williams, Williams, Burgess & Williams c.1822-5
- Williams, Deacon, Labouchere & Co 1826-8
- Williams, Deacon, Labouchere, Thornton & Co 1828-63
- Williams, Deacon, Thornton & Co 1863-82
- Williams, Deacon & Co from 1882-90
Published history
- Williams Deacon’s, 1771-1970 (Manchester: privately published by Williams & Glyn’s Bank Ltd, 1971)
Summary of our archive holdings
Our archival records of Williams, Deacon & Co have the reference code WC.
For help understanding words used here, check our glossary of banking record types (PDF 68 KB).
Partnership/corporate records
- private letterbooks 1832-90
- notebook of names 1855
- certificates re incorporation, change of name, etc. 1871-90
Financial records
- quarterly profit and loss accounts 1826-38
- private ledgers 1840-55, 1877-90
- monthly journals 1873-90
Legal records
- solicitors' bills of charges 1816-20, 1868-81
Customer records
- papers of the trustees of the estate of Alexander Bartlet & Co, West Indian merchants, 1771-1815: source overview (PDF 112 KB)
- signature books 1824-37, 1848-90
- papers re customer advances 1824-57
- opinion book 1825-59
- information book on country bank accounts 1826-58
- correspondence re payment of postal orders 1881-90
Staff records
- London office salary book 1828-90
- staff fidelity bonds and guarantee agreements 1836-90
- staff books 1853-90
- staff list c.1880
Property records
- title deeds, Birchin Lane premises 1771-1827
Note issue records
- banknotes 1845
Summary of archive holdings elsewhere
- Nottingham University Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections: Private papers of Richard Lowe, partner c.1771-1785 (Ref: Dr A, Dr Av, Dr C)
- Lambeth Archives: Papers of John Labouchere, incl reference to the bank 1839-1865 (Ref: IV/104/9/1-44)