Glasgow Banking Company (1809-1843)
Robert Brown, Glasgow merchant and founding partner of the Glasgow Banking Company
The Glasgow Banking Company was formed in 1809 - the last bank of the old private-partnership type to be formed in Glasgow.
There were 16 founding partners, most of whom were from outwith Glasgow. The principal (and managing) partner was James Dennistoun - an ancestor of the present Chairman of HBOS plc, Dennis Stevenson. Dennistoun was one of the most prominent citizens of Glasgow in the first quarter of the 19th century. He held ten shares in the Glasgow Banking Company valued at £5,000 each – a quarter of the initial capital raised.
In 1818, a further seven partners were invited to join the company, in order to strengthen local connections with the city of Glasgow, as competition for business became sharper, following the establishment of the Royal and the British Linen Bank agencies (branches) in the city.
In 1836, a committee of partners met to consider the desirability of changing to became a joint-stock bank. This never took place however because in the same year, the company decided to merge with another Glasgow based partnership bank, the Ship Bank, to form the Glasgow and Ship Bank. This new company eventually became part of the Union Bank of Scotland in 1843.
Further information
• 'The history of the Union Bank of Scotland' by Robert Rait (John Smith & Son, 1930), chapter 10.
• Some archival material relating to the Glasgow Banking Company is held by HBOS Group Archives.
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