Gloucester Old Bank

The claim is wrong as both C. Hoare & Co. and Child & Co. were founded earlier; the Gloucester Old Bank was, however, one of the oldest banks in Britain in the nineteenth century.

[3] The bank reached its apotheosis under Jemmy, whose practice was to offer no interest on deposits of less than one year.

At that time, the whole bank was believed to have consisted of just Jemmy and two clerks.

Counterfeit coins were nailed to the counter as a warning to customers not to try to pass them off on the bank.

[1] The bank premises were a medieval timber building at 22 Westgate Street, Gloucester that remained until the nineteenth century, and consisted of a counter within a larger draper's shop.

An 1828 painting of the bank by J.R. Orton after a print by George Rowe of Cheltenham. The figure in the doorway is almost certainly intended to be Jemmy Wood. In the collection of Gloucester City Museum & Art Gallery .
Plaque marking Gloucester Old Bank site
An 1814 banknote from Gloucester Old Bank.
A print by George Rowe depicting Jemmy Wood with the Gloucester Old Bank in the background.