[5][6] In 1798 Messrs. Walter Prideaux (i.e. Walter Prideaux (1769-1855) "Junior"[7]) and John Roope erected extensive machinery at the former Kingsbridge corn-mill, which they converted into a woollen manufactory, where for a number of years the serge or long-ell trade was carried on, to supply the East India Company with goods for India.
In 1805 Walter Prideaux (d.1832), the Plymouth banker, married Sarah-Ball Hingston, a daughter of his partner Joseph Hingston (1764-1835) (Senior), merchant,[9] of Dodbrooke (adjacent to Kingsbridge) in Devon, by his first wife Sarah Ball (d. 1790), a daughter of Joseph Ball of Bridgwater in Somerset.
Dividends from the bankruptcy were paid to creditors at the King's Arms Inn at Kingsbridge on 31 March 1830.
[19][20] The name of the Hingston & Prideaux Bank, which although it encountered financial difficulties appears to have escaped the fate of its competitor at Kingsbridge, was later changed to Devon & Cornwall Banking Company to reflect its expanded geographical sphere of operations.
The headquarters was in the City of Plymouth in Devon, and within one year of its establishment the first branch had been opened at St Austell in Cornwall.