Williams Deacon's Bank

[2] Familiarity with the Williams Deacon's name conceals the reality that the dominant institution was the Manchester & Salford Bank.

Forty years later, Grindon wrote that of the older Manchester joint stock banks, "this one stands alone in never having brought on itself any serious misfortune ... and never slackened in steady and prosperous advance.

"[4] Once the company was formed, the bank appointed Williams Deacon as its London agents, thus starting the relationship which was to result in the latter's acquisition.

[3] The first mention of the bank in the London Directory was in 1771 as Raymond, Williams, Vere, Lowe and Fletcher, though Hilton Price implies that it pre-dated the entry.

Acquisitions were discussed but none reached fruition until the Sheffield & Rotherham Joint Stock Banking Company in 1907.

The cotton industry's reconstruction scheme crystallised bad debts and threatened a reduction in the dividend.