The Catholic Building Society was a UK

building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingd ...

based in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. It was the 57th largest in the United Kingdom based on total assets of £44 million at 31 December 2007. The Society was started by Vincent Byrne and the Hon.

Nona Byrne The Honourable Nona Georgette Byrne DSG (10 September 1922 – 31 October 2012), née Nona Georgette Lawrence, was a British Roman Catholic philanthropist. In 1960, with her husband Vincent Byrne, she founded the Catholic Building Society, becomi ...

, in 1960. The Society started at 49 Harrington Road, Kensington; in 1966 it moved to Great Peter Street, Westminster, sharing the Westminster diocesan offices, under the patronage of Canon Adrian Arrowsmith. From 1972, the Society was based in Strutton Ground, moving between buildings on that street until settling at 7 Strutton Ground in 1993. It prided itself on making affordable home loans available to people with lower than average incomes, giving a high proportion of its home loans to single women. Vincent Byrne retired from the Society in 1967, remaining as Honorary President until his death, aged 70, in 1978. He was succeeded by the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

and subsequently by Nona Byrne. The Catholic Building Society and

Chelsea Building Society Chelsea Building Society is a trading name of Yorkshire Building Society based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Chelsea merged with the Yorkshire in 2010, at which point Chelsea was the fourth largest building society in the United Kingdom, with as ...

merged in December 2008 under the Chelsea name. The Chelsea merged with the

Yorkshire Building Society Yorkshire Building Society is the third largest building society in the UK, with its headquarters in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is a member of the Building Societies Association. The society also owns the Chelsea Building Society a ...

in April 2010. On 5 July 2014, a firm called the Fair Investment Company of Bristol was advertising cash ISAs on behalf of the Catholic Building Society, in the form of a structured product related to the performance of the FTSE index.

External links

Catholic Building SocietyBuilding Societies Association

KPMG Building Societies Database 2008

References

{{UK Building Societies Banks established in 1960 Organisations based in the City of Westminster Organizations established in 1960 1960 establishments in England