In 1558 Richard Martin was elected a liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company and later a Master of the Mint and Lord Mayor of the City of London.

[2] The London private bankers typically confined themselves to their one office, although Martins did have the occasional branch where individual partners lived.

The heraldic description of the coat of arms is as follows: "Or, a Liver Bird (or Cormorant) Sable, holding in the beak a branch of Laver (or Seaweed) Vert, on a Chief of the third a Grasshopper of the first."

Directors of Martins Bank included Edward Stanley, 18th Earl of Derby, The Queen Mother's younger brother The Hon.

Sir David Bowes-Lyon and Colonel Robert Buxton DSO MA-Oxon (Imperial Camel Corps friend of T. E. Lawrence).

Some, such as the sub-branch at Eaton, Norwich, Norfolk were brand new and handed over to Barclays on the day appointed by Act of Parliament for the merger of the two banks, 15 December 1969.

The archive has pieced together a staff database of more than 100,000 entries, from existing paper records, and can provide limited information to family tree researchers.

The Liverpool Head Office of Martins Bank is a Grade II* listed building designed by Herbert Rowse and opened in 1932.

[7] The 1971 film version of Dad's Army featured the fictional Walmington-on-Sea branch of Martins Bank, actually the Crown pub in Chalfont St Giles.

[8][9] Mr Mainwaring's Bank was always meant to be Martins, but in the early episodes of the TV series the BBC felt a different name would "avoid confusion".

In an episode of the second series Mr Mainwaring can actually be heard telling Private Walker that "as the Manager of Martins Bank" he wants nothing to do with black market activities.

In 1968, whilst already part of the Barclays Group of Companies, Martins issued what became a commemorative grasshopper money box in clear yellow plastic.