Holt's Military Banking is a trading name of

The Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Ba ...

, a subsidiary of

NatWest Group NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...

, offering dedicated banking facilities to service personnel in the United Kingdom and on operational tours of duty overseas. It can trace its origins to a Mr. Vesey, army agent to the

23rd Regiment of (Light) Dragoons The 23rd Light Dragoons was a cavalry regiment of the British Army which existed several times. 1st existence It was created in 1781 as the 23rd Regiment of (Light) Dragoons by Sir John Burgoyne, Bt. at Bedford but renumbered in 1786 as the 19 ...

, in Dublin in 1802. Holt's currently serves 35,000 British military personnel customers and manages 900 non-public business banking accounts.Holt’s Military Banking
NatWest Group, Our brands (retrieved 24 August 2020)

History

William, Nugent and John Kirkland

William Kirkland began as army agent to the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot in 1809. In 1815, he was succeeded by his brother, Nugent Kirkland, who was joined by his nephew John Kirkland in 1822 and retired from business in 1825. Nugent Kirkland brought with him Vesey's Irish agency, having been the 23rd Dragoons's Paymaster. In 1818, John Kirkland had been appointed by HRH The Duke of Kent as agent of the

7th (Royal Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

and, in 1824,

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

appointed him General Agent for the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

. The role of army agent ‌involved‌ ‌keeping‌ ‌the‌ ‌accounts‌ ‌of‌ ‌regiments,‌ ‌distributing‌ ‌pay‌ ‌and‌ ‌subsidies,‌ ‌dealing‌ ‌in‌ ‌supplies‌ ‌of‌ ‌clothing‌ ‌and‌ ‌equipment‌ ‌and‌ ‌administering‌ ‌claims‌ ‌for‌ ‌pensions‌ ‌and‌ ‌injury.‌‌

Holt & Co.

In 1863, Vesey Weston Holt was appointed army agent of the 16th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot and joined Sir John in partnership. On the death of Sir John in 1871, Holt became sole partner and the firm was renamed V.W. Holt & Co. He was succeeded by his son, Vesey George Mackenzie Holt, in 1881. In 1884, Percy Shute Lawrie joined Sir Vesey, bringing the agency founded by his grandfather in 1780 and the firm was styled Holt, Lawrie & Co. until 1891. Links were forged with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, through the 1915 acquisition of naval agents Woodhead & Co. and with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, through the offer of part of the newly-formed service's pay agency to Holt & Co. in 1918.

Glyn, Mills & Co.

Following Sir Vesey's death in 1921, Holt & Co. merged with the private bank of Glyn, Mills, Currie & Co., briefly becoming Glyn, Mills, Currie, Holt & Co. until a further merger with Child & Co. in 1924, when the name was shortened to Glyn, Mills & Co., with both Holt's and Child's carrying on as separate operations. The squirrel emblem, still in use today, dates back to at least the 1920s. In 1931, Glyn, Mills & Co. was acquired by The Royal Bank of Scotland and Holt's and Child's continued as branches of Glyn, Mills & Co. The Royal Bank of Scotland had acquired the struggling

Williams Deacon's Bank Williams Deacon's Bank was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1930. It had a large network of branches in the north-west of England. In 1970, it was integrated with Glyn, Mills & Co. and The National Bank (which were part of the same gro ...

(and the prestigious Western Branch of the Bank of England) in 1930 and the combined company came to be known as the Three Banks Group.

Royal Bank of Scotland

In 1969, The Royal Bank of Scotland merged with the

National Commercial Bank of Scotland The National Commercial Bank of Scotland Ltd. was a Scotland, Scottish commercial bank. It was established in 1959 through a merger of the National Bank of Scotland (established in 1825) with the Commercial Bank of Scotland (established in 1810) ...

to form the National and Commercial Banking Group. While the Scottish branches were merged into the Royal Bank, Glyn, Mills & Co. and

were merged with the English branches of the

National Bank In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings: * a bank owned by the state * an ordinary private bank which operates nationally (as opposed to regionally or locally or even internationally) * in the United States, an ordinary p ...

(a National Commercial subsidiary) to form Williams and Glyn's Bank. As there was no longer any advantage in operating separately, Williams and Glyn's was itself absorbed into The Royal Bank of Scotland in 1985. Following the introduction of the military salary in 1970, the Army and Royal Air Force pay agencies were not renewed and the pay department was closed. In 1976, Holt’s opened an office in Farnborough and the business was brought together there when RBS Holt's branch in Whitehall was closed and transferred to the nearby Drummonds branch in 1992.

Services

In 2003, Holt's expanded the scope and range of its services and launched the "Military Centre of Excellence" in Farnborough, where it holds accounts for the vast majority of Army regiments, as well as a large proportion of Navy ships and RAF stations. It is authorised as a brand of The Royal Bank of Scotland by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Holt’s offers personal banking facilities to regular and reserve service personnel, veterans and their families and, given the many similarities, has extended its proposition to Foreign and Commonwealth Office diplomatic and consular staff. It also provides financial services expertise to Royal Navy Ships and Bases,

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Regiments and Corps and to Royal Air Force Stations, as well as a number of military associations and charities. In 2015, Holt’s Military Banking,

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, i ...

and The Royal Bank of Scotland signed the Armed Forces Covenant.The Armed Forces Corporate Covenant: Holt's Military Banking, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland
Ministry of Defence, 15 September 2015 Holt's is a corporate partner of the Army Sports Control Board and sponsor of the Royal Military Academy Boxing Club.

Notes

References

External links

Holt's Military BankingThe Royal Bank of Scotland
{{UK banks 1809 establishments in England British companies established in 1809 Banks established in 1809 Military of the United Kingdom Royal Bank of Scotland