The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-04-08
An Old Bank.

pan kl0H-nOust OF mcssIs. Nnilu. nc o. -,
instance Of the prOverb that q ii Is an III
wind that blows no one some good, Mr.
Prize stated that the threatened downfall
of Temple Bar last Summer led to search
es being made among the archives Of
Messrs. Child. who for years have been
tenants of the double chamber over the
Bar, where they have slowed away their
ledgers and journals for two centuries.
Or their removal into the house, these
archives were carefully searched, and ma
terials were found towards a tOlerably
complete history of Messrs. Child, whose
house is +" universally acknowledged to be
the first banking. house in succession to
the goldsmith's trade out of which it
sprung.'' 1t is generally said, but the fact
rests only on tradition, that Oliver Crom-
well kept here his cash accounts; but it is
certain that Nell Gwynne did so, and the
ledgers of the firm show the account Of
her executors, and also those of King Will
liam Ill. and Of Queen Mary his consort.
The original sign of the house was " The
Marygold," which may still be seen in the
water-mark of all the checks drawn on
Child & Co. The original sign, too,
though no longer set up outside in the
street, is preserved in the "shop," as it is
still called. 1t is of oak, the ground
stained green, with gilt border, mari
gold, and a sun; and below Is the
motto, ''Ainsi mon anne" Many of the
customers of the bank, toward the end of
the seventeenth century, used TO address
their letters to g Mr.. Alderman Child and
Partner. Goldsmiths, at the Marygold,
next door to Temple Barr and checks
with the same address are eXtant, dated as
early as 1894. Again, in 1872, when the
second Sir Francis Child was Lord Mayor.
the Earl of Oxford addressed his checks
and orders on the firm to 1.-The Worship
full, the Lord Mayor and Company at
Temple Bar" The sign of the .Marygold,
added Mr.. Price, appears to have arisen
out of tavern or public ordinary, which
is known to have existed on the site as
early as the reign of James l., and in 1919
its keeper, one CromptOn, was present
ed' by his neighbors on account of the
disorlerly character of his tavern. 1t was
in 1851 that Francis Child took lease of
the premises from st. Dunstan's Parish,
agreeing to lay out eS00 in building; and
it appears that in course of time both the
Sugar Loaf and Green Lettice," and also
the Devil Tavern" with which Ben
Jonson's name is associated, were absorbed
into the clearinghouse, and the adjoining
houses in Child's place. The Kitchen In
the rear of the present bank. and the COM
mOdiOus cellars below it, in Mr.. Prices
opinion, belonged not TO the "DeviP' but
to the sugar Loaf and Lettuce" The
Devils Tavern was pulled down in 1851,
and no doubt originally it had for its sign
"St. Dunstm pulling the Devil by the
Nose" The original rules of the "Apollo"
Climb which met here are still in the posses
sion of Messrs. Child. Mr.. Price next pro-
ceeded to illustrate the family connections
of the bank, including the Blanchards,
Wheelers, Childs, Rogers, Jacksons, Ty-
ringhams, Backwells, ETC.; but these de-
aiis would scarcely interest the public.
He noted as worthy of remark. and as show
ing how the banker grew out of the gold
smith. the fact that the front office at MIR.
Chld's is still called the ''shOp," and the
back office, where the ledgers are now
kept, the counting-house." He next no.
ticed Nell Gwynne's account, and the fact
of her dying in 1857 with her banking ac-
count overdrawn-a debt which her execu-
tors agreed to pay off with the very mod
crate interest of five per cent. One of her
executors was Laurence Hyde, Earl of
Rochester. Then he connected the bank
with Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, by
the following anecdote: 1T is recorded
that in the year 1859 the stability of Child's
Bank became preclriOus in consequence of
rumor being prevalent that run was
about to be made upon it. This coming
to the knowledge of the Duchess, then
Lady Churchill, she set to work and col
lected among her friends as much gold as
she was able. which she brought down TO
the bank in her coach on the very morning
of the intended run, and so enabled the
firm TO meet all demands upon them"
l.. L. 81 l-c &c p
back as the reign of Queen Anne, previous
to which customer was wont to call
occasionally at the bank and check his ac-
count in the ledger in the presence of one
of the partners. The customer having
agreed that his account was correct, would
sign his name on the folio of the ledger,
adding, Il allow this account and very
frequently the partners signed it as well. ]"
The first pass-book appears to have been
issued to Lady Carteret, in compliance
with a request conveyed in letter, so that
possibly we may owe to lady this i'm
provement on such primitive banking as
that above described. In those early days
of banking, added Mr.. Price, London
bankers issued their own notes ; there have
hitherto been stored away above Temple
Bar whole files of such bank-notes of
Messrs. Child, all of which bear the Bar
itself, and not the Marygold, as a Wig
nette. Mr.. F. Child, it appears, in 1929 de-
vised anew form of prOmissory notes, with
a picture of Temple Bar in the lett-hand
corner but they were discontinued before
the end of the last century. Ameng the
best known and most illustrious person
ages who have kept their banking account
at Child's during the past two centuries
are the names, besides those already men,
toned, of Sir Robert Vyner, Samuel
Pepys, Thomas Wood, of Littleton, the
Earl of Castlemaine, Lady Anne Palmer,
Lord Leigh, Lord Grandson, Sir John
Mordaunt, Rowland VIM, Sir Alan BrOd-
rick, Sir Walter Vane, the Earl of Carlisle,
the Dukes of Devonshire. Bedford, and
Bridgewater. Sir Thomas Osborne, after
ward Duke of Leeds, Sir Charles Dun
cOmbe, Sir Thomas Skipwith, the Duke of
Bolton, the Palmers of Dorney, Bishop
Stillingfleet, Horace Walpole, the poet
Dryden. John Duke of Marlborough, Lord
Keeper North, Prince George of Denmark.
and the Earls af Dorset and MiddleseX. 1t
is generally thought that Charles H., his
Queen, and the Queen Mother (Henrietta
Maria. the Duke of York, Prince Rupert,
&C., kept their cash accounts with Messrs.
Child but this, as Mr.. Price showed, was
mistake, for they really banked with a
Mr.. Alderman Blackwell, whose bank and
its books and many of their customers
passed to Messrs. Child. 1t may be added
that Messrs Backwell's ledgers and other
books are still to be seen at Temple Bar.
The walls of the room in which the meet
ing was held were decorated with some
water-color sketches and rare prints of
Temple Bar, the 'Devil' Tavern, st.
Clements Danes Church, &C., lent by Mr..
J. Z. Gardner; and Mr.. Waller, of Fleet
Street. exhibited curious document on
vellum, being an inventory of New Years
gifts to and from Queen Elizabeth and her
courtiers at Hampton Court, in the first
year of her reign, authenticated by her
own royal sign manual.
Death of a Millionaire.