Its rules were ratified in February 1853 and it was registered under the Benefit Building Societies Act 1836, with the “Investment” omitted from its title.

Jonas Tylor, a 24-year-old lawyer's clerk, was appointed Secretary and he was supported as president by John Fisher, manager of the Halifax Joint Stock Banking Company.

Jonas Tylor was to serve as Secretary of the Halifax for almost fifty years and he was responsible for the society's strategy of branch expansion from its beginning.

There followed a more substantial scheme with John Crossley, a carpet manufacturer, creating The West Hill Park Model Dwellings.

Another 22 were opened in the next decade including the important cities of Bradford and Leeds; the Halifax had developed a significant regional presence.

[3] After the death of Jonas Tylor, the appointment of his successor brought in [Sir] Enoch Hill, destined to be one of the great names in building society history.

Amongst other activities he helped the blind secretary of Leek United Permanent Benefit Building Society by reading to him.

Despite its size, by the end of WWI the Halifax was still largely based in Yorkshire and Lancashire and the next stage was to take the Society national.

Between 1918 and 1928 around 100 new branches and agencies were opened, doubling the Halifax's coverage; that decade finished with new offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Following the merger, branches were quickly opened in a number of leading cities: Aberdeen, Birmingham and Cardiff in 1929; and Belfast, Derby and Newcastle in 1930.

On the back of the expansion in branches and agencies, and helped by the boom in private housing, assets increased from £47m after the 1928 merger to £123m in 1938.

Its importance has diminished in recent years because property data is now kept on a central database kept by HM Land Registry.

In 1993, it established a Spanish subsidiary, Banco Halifax Hispania, mainly serving British expatriate mortgage customers.

Further expansion took place with the 1996 acquisition of Clerical Medical Fund Managers, a UK life insurance company.

[11] HBOS was acquired by the Lloyds Banking Group in January 2009 amid falling share price and speculation as to its future.

From then, all new standard current accounts had zero credit and debit interest, along with no paid and unpaid item charges (which were previously up to £35).

Credit interest has been replaced by a £5 net payment every month if customers abide by the terms of the 'Reward current account'.

[15] On 14 November 2009, HBOS was hit by a power failure which affected all branches, cash machines and online banking.

Halifax have also created adverts that have featured pop culture from franchises such as The Flintstones, Top Cat, Scooby-Doo, the 1939 musical fantasy, The Wizard of Oz, and Thunderbirds.