Heritage: 'There are two main banks in Romsey from 1830'

Some of these lawyers moved over to banking and left others to do the legal work we associate with solicitors. There are two main banks in Romsey from 1830. One was established in The Hundred by William Footner and the other in The Abbey which was associated with Thomas Sharp.

This bank traded under the name of William Footner & Son and was based in The Hundred in the premises now occupied by Superdrug. It was an offshoot of the solicitors’ practice that still exists in the town.

This bank was established before 1830. Like many small or provincial bankers, Footner had an account with a larger London bank. Somewhere between 1859 and 1875, Footner’s bank became a branch of the Wilts and Dorset Bank, with a local manager, Charles Nicholas Line. It was absorbed by Lloyds Bank in 1914, so perhaps that is when the premises in The Hundred was given up.

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Procession passing the Wilts and Dorset Bank in The Hundred, 1908. Only the storey doorway on the left survives of this façade (Image: Contributed)

Pigot’s Directory of 1830 records the banking business of Thomas Sharp & Son, whose office was in The Abbey. I think this bank was in the building that abuts the URC arch and is now part of TSB. By 1847 Sharp’s Bank was replaced by a branch of the Hampshire Banking Company, locally managed by Thomas Allee. Following a merger this bank became part of the Hampshire and North Wilts Banking Company and in 1885 it was absorbed by the Capital Counties Bank, with a head office in Threadneedle Street, London. It was finally merged with Lloyds Bank in 1918.

In 1923, the manager of Lloyds Bank was Samuel Edward Percy Weatherhead. He stayed in Romsey for over 20 years, and as was the custom of bank managers at that time, was treasurer of various local charities – about 30 in all according to his successor. Although he retired in 1937, he stayed in the town and undertook auditing of the accounts of a number of the town’s important associations.

In the 1920s Lloyds Bank expanded northwards and absorbed the shop that had been Mr Tuck’s Time Observatory. Lloyd’s façade was extended so that only careful examination shows that this is an addition and not part of the original. Under Mr Tuck this northern building had a clock facing the Market Place, as does TSB to this day.

In 1931 Barclay’s Bank and Midland Bank both had branches in the Market Place. I have found that one can always tell where the commercial heart of a town used to be by seeing where the banks are located. Lloyd’s Romsey branch became TSB in 2013.