the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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BANKING AND FAmILy ARcHIVES 105<br />
order cash into your hands to <strong>the</strong> amount <strong>of</strong> £1000 at a time if it should be worth<br />
our while for you to send us bills payable in London in lieu <strong>the</strong>re<strong>of</strong>’.<br />
In November he wrote again, advising <strong>the</strong> Tippings <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dispatch <strong>of</strong> a box<br />
<strong>of</strong> over £2000 in gold coin, noting ‘last night I sent <strong>the</strong> box to my friend Mr.<br />
Southwell to prevent suspicion, but nei<strong>the</strong>r he nor anyone else knows <strong>the</strong> contents<br />
except my clerks, but Mr. Southwell guesses it is cash as I have <strong>of</strong>ten employed<br />
him on <strong>the</strong> same occasion.’<br />
O<strong>the</strong>r letters were more personal. In 1762 he wrote to <strong>the</strong> Reverend Ward about<br />
his eldest son: ‘I had expected <strong>the</strong> assistance <strong>of</strong> my eldest son who is now fit for<br />
business, but he has desired to go to Cambridge and I did not choose to deny his<br />
request. This will put me under some difficulty till Abel is ready for business which<br />
has determined me to send him to Derby … where he will have <strong>the</strong> opportunity <strong>of</strong><br />
making fur<strong>the</strong>r progress with <strong>the</strong> languages and <strong>the</strong> same time qualify himself in<br />
writing and accounts as I shall soon want him in <strong>the</strong> counting house’.<br />
O<strong>the</strong>r correspondence included letters to ano<strong>the</strong>r son, William; letters to <strong>the</strong><br />
Commissioner <strong>of</strong> Taxes (as Smith collected taxes for remittance to London);<br />
letters to his partner René Payne in London; and correspondence on o<strong>the</strong>r matters,<br />
such as <strong>the</strong> purchase <strong>of</strong> an assembly room in Nottingham and local politics.<br />
NatWest archives also hold a letter book dated 1778–1809 belonging to Samuel<br />
Stuckey (1740–1812), general merchant and banker <strong>of</strong> Langport in Somerset. 21<br />
Initially <strong>the</strong> letter book contains copies <strong>of</strong> letters to and from Stuckey’s daughter,<br />
Elizabeth. Soon afterwards, however, <strong>the</strong> book is used to record <strong>the</strong> business<br />
correspondence <strong>of</strong> her fa<strong>the</strong>r, Samuel. While most letters concern <strong>the</strong> trade in salt<br />
and o<strong>the</strong>r goods, o<strong>the</strong>rs contain references to <strong>banking</strong>. 22 The survival <strong>of</strong> this letter<br />
book is significant because so few o<strong>the</strong>r records document <strong>the</strong> family’s <strong>banking</strong><br />
activities before <strong>the</strong> <strong>private</strong> Stuckey banks merged into a joint-stock bank in 1826.<br />
In addition, <strong>the</strong> letter books reveal a close business connection with Simon<br />
Pretor <strong>of</strong> Sherborne, who was also a banker. Although most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir correspondence<br />
concerns trade in salt, Pretor recommended his London bankers, Langstone,<br />
Lockhill Towgood and Amery, to Stuckey. In November 1779, Stuckey wrote to<br />
<strong>the</strong>m about opening an account: ‘It will be my object to make it as much worth your<br />
while as possibly I can, at sometimes I may have a few hundreds in your hands at<br />
o<strong>the</strong>rs be ra<strong>the</strong>r shorter; but at no time over draw my amount…. I presume I may<br />
pay about seven or eight thousand per annum through your hand’.<br />
In 1807, Samuel’s nephew, Vincent, appears as a new signatory in <strong>the</strong> letter<br />
book. Vincent joined Samuel in business following his marriage to Samuel’s<br />
daughter in 1801. He later took over direction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>banking</strong> business. By 1809 his<br />
uncle appears to have been withdrawing from active management <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> business,<br />
for <strong>the</strong> letter book contains a letter from Vincent to Thomas Farley at Worcester,<br />
21<br />
NatWest Group Archives, ref. 10257.<br />
22<br />
S. Snell, Stuckey’s Bank. The Importance <strong>of</strong> a Family Banking Concern on <strong>the</strong><br />
Economy <strong>of</strong> Langport and Somerset, 1770–1909, paper delivered at <strong>the</strong> Langport and<br />
District Historical Society, Feb. 1998.