The Woolwich Equitable Building Society (later Woolwich Building Society or The Woolwich) was founded in
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
in 1847 and remained a local institution until after
WWI
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
when it began a modest regional expansion. This accelerated after
WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the period from 1960 was notable for its acquisitions. Following deregulation, the Society diversified and became one of the largest national building societies.
In 1997 it
demutualised
Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (''mutual'') or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, memb ...
and became Woolwich PLC. The company was listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
. It was once a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index
The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...
but was acquired by
Barclays
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
in 2000.
History
Early history
The origins of the Woolwich lay in an earlier terminating society, based in the local Castle Inn and chaired by the publican. In 1847 a breakaway group met to form the Woolwich Equitable Benefit Building and Investment Society (later reduced to the Woolwich Equitable Building Society). That the active founders of the new society included the pastor of the Salem Chapel and a Sunday School teacher may indicate the reason for the breakaway. The first meeting was held in the parlour of a “modest house” of Benjamin Wates, a local draper. The Wates family was to play a significant role in the early history of the Woolwich. Samuel Wates, Benjamin’s younger brother, was appointed Secretary in 1848 but following his death in 1851, Benjamin took over until 1862 followed briefly by his son and then by the youngest brother Joseph, who was Secretary and General Manager until 1880. Joseph Wates then became a director, rearing as Chairman in 1901.
[Colin Brooks, The First Hundred Years, The Woolwich Equitable Building Society, 1947, London,]
A feature of the early years was the Society lending out more than it had money, with funds coming from directors signing promissory notes to the bank. Indeed, support from its bank (the
London & County) was to feature on future occasions. Nevertheless, after ten years the Woolwich claimed to be “one of the leading Metropolitan societies” and dominant in its own neighbourhood. This may have been an optimistic claim as the Wolwich was run on a very small scale: the Secretary was obliged to live on the premises until 1876, and in 1863 there were only 500 members. A shock to the town and the Society was the closure of the
Woolwich Dockyard
Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 1 ...
in 1869. However, it made the Society look outside its immediate area. In 1872 there was reference to “suitable persons to be appointed as agents in eligible localities” and then to “outlying districts” having proved successful; however, “outlying” still appeared to be relatively local.
[
Further shocks were to come before the century was out. In 1886, the Woolwich's solicitor, also the son of the chairman, disappeared, prompting a run on deposits. The London and County sent funds to support the Society. This was followed by the failure of ]Jabez Balfour
Jabez Spencer Balfour (4 September 1843 – 23 February 1916) was an English businessman, British Liberal Party politician and fraudster.
Life
Balfour was born in Marylebone, London to James and Clara Lucas Balfour.
He was Member of Parliament ...
's Liberator Building Society in 1892 which caused a crisis of confidence in the whole building society movement and the withdrawal of deposits. Again, the London and County Bank sent funds to bolster reserves. Despite the earlier references to appointing agents in outlying areas, the Society remained small. In 1887, forty years after its formation, the Society’s assets were only £555,000 and it was run by one Secretary and seven clerks. Even by the 60th anniversary in 1907, the assets were little more than £1m.[
]
Regional expansion begins
Slowly, the Woolwich was beginning to think of expansion. In 1911, it opened accounts with other banks in anticipation of widening the source of deposits. Although interrupted by World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1917 it decided to appoint special agents in provinces. The first of these was in nearby Chatham, Kent
Chatham ( ) is a town located within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham.
The town developed around Chatham ...
but it was not until the early 1920s that the Woolwich began a programme of branch expansion, slowly at first but then accelerating. A city office was opened in 1923, followed by Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
in 1924, Ilford in 1925 and Romford
Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...
in 1927. In 1928, three were opened including Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
and six in 1929, with branches now in bigger cities, e.g. Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
. A further 17 branches were opened in the 1930s, Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, and Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
indicating the geographical spread. Assets grew from £1.7m in 1919 to around £36m at the onset of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.[
Branch expansion resumed immediately after the War and a regional organization was established in 1946. Three small societies had also been absorbed during the War: the Gosport and Alverstoke; Guildford and District Equitable, and Andover Mutual. However, the corporate history finishes in 1947, at the end of the Woolwich’s centenary, and detail is limited thereafter.][ Organic growth took assets up to £100m by the mid-1950s.]
The modern era: expansion and diversification
From 1960, the Woolwich combined opening new branches with a series of acquisitions. Between the acquisition of the Modern Permanent in 1960 and the Town and Country in 1992, some nine societies were absorbed by the Woolwich. Notable among them were the fraudulent Grays and the Gateway, successor to the Temperance Building Society The Temperance Building Society was formed in London in 1854 by non-conformists and abstainers. Using only agencies, it grew to be the largest building society in the early 1900s. However, a disinclination to adopt more modern practices led to a r ...
. The Gateway acquisition in 1988 took assets up to £13 billion. By then, financial deregulation encouraged the Woolwich to diversify away from its traditional mortgage business. In 1989, the Woolwich launched its first subsidiary operation, a financial planning service. It also formed Woolwich Property Services and took over part of the estate agency operations of the Prudential Plc
Prudential plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people.
Prudential has dual primary list ...
in 1991; by the late 1990s, it had a national chain of nearly 170 branch locations. Other ventures included offshore banking, Woolwich Guernsey; Woolwich Life; Woolwich Unit Trust Managers Limited; and Italian and French banking businesses.[
]
Demutualisation and takeover
The Woolwich Equitable Building Society demutualised
Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (''mutual'') or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, memb ...
in 1997, giving up its mutual status to become a bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
: Woolwich PLC was formed, giving shares
In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...
to investing and borrowing members of the society, and listing on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
.
In August 2000, Barclays took over Woolwich PLC in a £5.4bn acquisition. Woolwich PLC thus joined the Barclays Bank Group of companies. The Woolwich brand-name was retained after the acquisition, and the Woolwich head office remained in Bexleyheath
Bexleyheath is a town in south-east London, England. It had a population of 31,929 as at 2011.
Bexleyheath is located south-east of Charing Cross, and forms part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is identified in the London Plan as one of ...
, south-east London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, 4.5 mi from the original office in Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
.
On 28 June 2006, Barclays announced that The Woolwich was to become the Barclays UK mortgage
A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...
brand, supported by Barclays branches, and that Woolwich branches would be either closed or re-branded as Barclays.
Associated changes to call centre
A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...
s affected up to 1,200 jobs, mostly at The Woolwich contact centre in Clacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated ...
, which closed at the end of 2007.
Although the Woolwich name lived on as the brand used for Barclays mortgages, this was discontinued in 2015.
Headquarters
The Woolwich Equitable Building Society started in Powis Street
Powis Street is a partly pedestrianised shopping street in Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, south east London, England. It was laid out in the late 18th century and was named after the Powis brothers, who developed most of the land i ...
, Woolwich, where it occupied various premises. From 1896 until 1935, it was headquartered at a purpose-built corner office at 111-113 Powis Street, after which it moved to larger premises at Eakes Place, now Equitable House at General Gordon Square. In 1989, it moved to new headquarters in nearby Bexleyheath
Bexleyheath is a town in south-east London, England. It had a population of 31,929 as at 2011.
Bexleyheath is located south-east of Charing Cross, and forms part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is identified in the London Plan as one of ...
, alongside the society's main administration and computer centre which had been based at the corner of Watling Street and Erith Road for many years. Following the takeover by Barclays, the Bexleyheath head office closed in 2005. In 2014, the Woolwich's former head office became the Civic Offices of Bexley London Borough Council
Bexley London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Bexley in the ceremonial county of Greater London, England. It is one of 32 London borough councils in the county. The council comprises 45 councillors.
History
Ther ...
.
Equitable House continued as a branch office until 2007. In 2010–11, it was converted into a commercial building by Sundridge Investments, with a pub, a cafe and shops on the ground floor, and the upper floors rented out to Maritime Greenwich College, later South London College.[Saint & Guillery (2012), pp. 237-240]
File:Woolwich, Powis St - Eleanor Rd, 1895 (cropped).jpg, Powis Street HQ, 1847-1896
File:Woolwich, Powis Street, ca 1905.jpg, Powis Street HQ, 1896-1935 (the corner building)
File:London, Woolwich-Centre, General Gordon Square-Woolwich New Road, Equity Building03.jpg, Equitable House HQ, 1935-1989
File:2015 London-Woolwich, Woolwich Equitable pub 06.jpg, Banking hall Equitable House, now a pub
References
External links
*
Barclays Group Archives: The Woolwich
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolwich
Defunct banks of the United Kingdom
Defunct companies based in London
Banks established in 1847
Banks disestablished in 2000
1847 establishments in England
2000 disestablishments in England
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
History of the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Companies based in the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Barclays