A Family History of the Illustrious, Notorious and Eccentric Lloyds of Birmingham, Brigstock and Pipewell Hall - Flipbook - Page 12
THE FOUNDING OF LLOYDS BANK
How Lloyds Bank came to be formed
3 June 1765 there was no Bank in Birmingham, and Taylors and Lloyds were the first to open their
in the town. The population of Birmingham, according to Macauley, at the time of the
monwealth was less than four thousand, but 25,000 by the time the Bank started in 1765. The
sing trade of Birmingham had caused its merchants, manufacturers and shop keepers to feel the
or a Bank in which to deposit money for safe keeping, and from where advances could be made
rarily against securities, to assist their development. It is to the business of Sampson Lloyd I in
aston Street, and to the success of their slitting mill in Moat Street, as well as their iron interests that
me of Lloyd with Banking must be traced.
son Lloyd II had inherited a respectable fortune and a thriving business from his father. The Lloyds
time were already looked upon as men of probity and of substance, and it was this reputation
on the founding of Taylor and Lloyds Bank in 1765, secured the confidence of the public, at which
here was little or no legislative provision for the protection of depositors.
Taylor, born in the early part of the eighteenth century is a notable figure in the industrial history of
ngham. He died in 1775 at the age of sixty four, and began his life as a journeyman, it is believed as
net maker. He made his fortune as a button maker, but became even more famous as a
acturer of japanned goods. He was particularly successful in hitting the fashionable taste in snuff
articles then in universal use. There was one style of snuff box which he alone produced and for
there was enormous demand. The boxes were of various colours and shapes, but what took the
fancy was the peculiar ornamentation of the surface. Each had a highly coloured ground upon
was an extraordinary wavy pattern of a different shade of colour. The two tints alternated in such
nite variety of patterns that it was said no two Taylor snuff boxes were ever found alike, as no
maker was able to imitate them. Taylor, while the craze lasted, commanded large sales at a high
Taylor did this ornamentation with his own hands, securely locking up his room during the process.
oxes were brought to him whilst the second coat was wet, and then with his thumb, he wove in an
s variety of the patterns he desired. Thus the process remained to all others a mystery. When John
died in 1775 he left what was a large fortune in those days, £200,000, worth today several millions.
ank which these two families founded, remained a private concern for a hundred years, the Lloyd
being both the proprietors and managers. The Taylors took no part in the management. The
rship eventually ended with the death of John Taylor in 1852.
