Child & Co. is a historic private bank in the United Kingdom, later integrated into the

RBS RBS may refer to: Arts and media * Grupo RBS, Brazilian media group ** RBS TV * Republic Broadcasting System (RBS TV), now GMA Network, owned by GMA Network Inc., Philippines * RBS TV (Latvia), a defunct Latvian television station * ''Red Band ...

division of the

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 ...

. The bank operated from its long-standing premises at 1

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

, on the western edge of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, near the

Temple Bar Memorial Temple Bar was the principal ceremonial entrance to the City of London from the City of Westminster. In the Middle Ages, London expanded city jurisdiction beyond its walls to gates, called 'bars', which were erected across thoroughfares. To the ...

and opposite the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...

. In June 2022, the last remaining physical branch closed its doors. Despite this, RBS assured customers that the Child & Co. brand would "remain," with no accounts being closed. Banking services are now provided through digital platforms or other RBS and

NatWest National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major Retail banking, retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the Corporate merger, merger of National Provincial Bank and We ...

branches.

History

Child & Co. was the third-oldest bank in the world and the oldest bank in the UK, predating the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

by thirty years.

Origins

Child & Co. traced its roots to a London

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

business in the late 17th century, whose premises were known by the sign of the Marygold. Sir Francis Child established his business as a goldsmith in 1664, when he entered into partnership with Robert Blanchard. Child married Blanchard's stepdaughter and inherited the whole business upon Blanchard's death. Renamed Child & Co., the business thrived and was appointed as "jeweller in ordinary" to

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 167 ...

. Child took over most of the assets of Coggs & Dann, a

goldsmith banker A goldsmith banker was a business role that emerged in seventeenth century London from the London goldsmiths where they gradually expanded their services to include storage of wealth, providing loans, transferring money and providing bill of excha ...

"at the sign of the Kings Head in the Strand, over against St. Clement Danes Church", after the bank became insolvent in 1710 due to a massive fraud orchestrated by gentleman fraudster Thomas Brerewood, which became known as the Pitkin Affair. After Child died in 1713, his three sons ran the business. During this time, the firm transformed from a goldsmith business to a fully fledged bank. It claimed to be the first bank to introduce a pre-printed cheque form, prior to which customers simply wrote a letter to their bank but sent it to their creditor who presented it for payment. Its first bank note was issued in 1729.

1782 to 1924

By 1782, Child's grandson Robert Child was the senior partner in the firm. However, when he died in 1782 without any sons to inherit the business, he did not want to leave it to his only daughter, Sarah Anne Child, because he was furious over her elopement with

John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, (1 June 175915 December 1841), styled Lord Burghersh between 1771 and 1774, was a British Tory politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who served in most of the cabinets of the period, primari ...

, earlier in the year. To prevent the Earls of Westmorland from ever acquiring his wealth, he left it in trust to his daughter's second-surviving son or eldest daughter. This turned out to be Lady Sarah Sophia Fane, who was born in 1785. From the death of Robert Child (in 1782) until 1793, the bank was managed by his widow,

Sarah Child Sarah Child née Jodrell (d. 1793) was a British banker. She was daughter of Gilbert Jodrell of Ankerwyke, Buckinghamshire. She married Robert Child (Wells MP), and became the mother of Sarah Fane, Countess of Westmorland Sarah Anne Fane, ...

. Their granddaughter Lady Sarah Sophia Fane married

George Child-Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey, GCH, PC (19 August 1773 – 3 October 1859), previously George Villiers and styled Viscount Villiers until 1805, was a British courtier and Conservative politician from the Villiers family. He adde ...

, in 1804 and upon her majority in 1806, she became the senior partner. She exercised her rights personally until her death in 1867. At that point, the Earl of Jersey and Frederick William Price of Harringay House were appointed as the two leading partners. Ownership continued in the Child-Villiers family until the 1920s.

1924 sale and subsequent years

George Child-Villiers, 8th Earl of Jersey George Henry Robert Child Villiers, 8th Earl of Jersey DL (2 June 1873 – 31 December 1923), was a British peer and Conservative politician from the Villiers family. Villiers was the son of Victor Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey, and the ...

, sold the firm in 1924 to Glyn, Mills, Currie, Holt & Co., which retained it as a separate business. Glyn, Mills & Co. was in turn acquired by

The Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Scotland has around ...

in 1931 and merged with Williams Deacon's Bank to form

Williams & Glyn's Bank Williams & Glyn's Bank Limited was established in London in 1970, when the Royal Bank of Scotland merged its two subsidiaries in England and Wales, Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd. and Glyn, Mills & Co. In 1985, Williams & Glyn's was fully absorbed ...

in 1969. Williams and Glyn's Bank was fully integrated into The Royal Bank of Scotland in 1985 and ceased to operate separately. A branch was opened in Oxford in 1932. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the main banking departments were evacuated to

Osterley Osterley ( ) is an affluent district of Isleworth in west London, England, from Charing Cross in the London Borough of Hounslow. Most of its land use is mixed agricultural and aesthetic parkland at Osterley House (National Trust), charity-r ...

in West London and in 1942, the Oxford branch was transferred to

Martins Bank Martins Bank was a London private bank, trading for much of its time under the symbol of "The Grasshopper", that could trace its origins back to Thomas Gresham and the London goldsmiths, from which it developed into a bank known as Martin's Bank ...

. In 1977, a representative office was once again opened at St. Giles’ in Oxford.

Fleet Street location

After Temple Bar was removed and

was widened in 1880, Child & Co. occupied a Grade II* listed building at 1 Fleet Street, which was designed by John Gibson. The bank had previously operated from the same Fleet Street site since 1673. The building was refurbished in 2015. In February 2022, Child & Co. wrote to its clients informing them of the closure of its Fleet Street branch on 29 June 2022. Despite the branch closure, RBS continues to issue Child & Co. branded debit cards, cheque books and statements (as of August 2023).

Clients

Over the course of its 350-year history, Child & Co. attracted an exclusive client base that included the Honourable Societies of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

and

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

, as well as numerous wealthy families. A number of

Oxford colleges The University of Oxford has 36 colleges within universities in the United Kingdom#Traditional collegiate universities, colleges, three societies, and four permanent private halls (PPHs) of religious foundation. The colleges and PPHs are autonom ...

and several universities, including the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, were also reported to hold accounts. Child & Co. had a legal and professional services hub that supported many of the biggest law firms, as well as three of the

Big Four accounting firms The Big Four are the four largest professional services networks in the world: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, EY, KPMG, and PwC. They are the four largest global accounting networks as measured by revenue. The four are often grouped because they ar ...

in the UK. It is believed that Child & Co. was the model for

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' fictitious Tellson's Bank in ''

A Tale of Two Cities ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by English author Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long impr ...

'' (1859).Business: Tellson's Passes
''Time'', May 12, 1924

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *

Donald Adamson Donald Adamson, (30 March 1939 – 18 January 2024), was a British literary scholar and historian. Books which he wrote include ''Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God'' and '' Balzac and the Tradition of the European ...

, "Child’s Bank and Oxford University in the Eighteenth Century", ''The Three Banks Review'', December 1982, pp. 45–52 *Philip Clarke ''The FIrst House in the City'' (1973)

External links

*
History of Child & Co.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Child and Co. Private banks Royal Bank of Scotland Organisations based in the City of London Banks established in 1664 1664 establishments in England Banking in Great Britain