, 1889-04-20
BANK ROMANcES
Strange Stories Connected with the Estab-
hmen of London banking Houses

hhnEnchI OF A<Onooh bAnAAhE AhOuScH
Banking is not generally regarded as a
romantic pursuit, nor is it so in the or
binary course of business, but inasmuch
as its whole concern is with money, for
which man will venture most things, it
often marks the center round which sto-
ries Of love, ambition, robbery and in
trigue are built.
1t was a love affair that gave rise to
the firm OF Jones, Lloyd & Co., 10Y
amalgamated with the London and West
minister bank. Mr.. Lloyd was q dissent
ing minister In Manchester, and among
the worshipers at his chapel was Mr..
Jones, the banker and merchant.
Mr.. Jones daughter Mary fell in love
with the preacher, and fearing that her
fathers consent &c their union could not
be obtained, she agreed to a secret mar
riage.
After a time Mr.. Jones became recon
ciled to the young people and sent his
son-in-law to London to start n branch
Of the banking business there.
This proved to be q wise step. Mr..
Lloyd made a most excellent banker and
for many years was Mt the head of what
developed into one of the wealthiest
banks In the country.
In 1874 LOWS Lloyd purchased Over
stone Park, near Northampton, where
he resided until 1858. He bequeathed
son, Samuel Jones Lloyd. was created
Lord Overstone.
In the early years Of the banking house
OF Coutts many strange incidents oc-
CURED. Thomas Coutts, about 1850, mar
ried his brothers housemaid, n farmers
daughter, named Elizabeth Starkey, ''in
whom, with a handsome countenance
and great good humor, were united many
rustic virtues"
In course Of time she acquired the
manners and appearance of a gentle
woman. and brought up her three daugh-
ters 80 well that, with the help of their
dowries, they were able to make most
a~ristocratio alliances.
Sophia, the eldest, was married to Sir
Francis Burdett; Susan, the second, be-
came countess of Guildford, and Frances,
the third, was made the wife of the first
Marquis OF Butte.
But Mrs. Coutts showed symptoms of
brain derangement in her later years,
and eventually died, 1878. Three months
afterward Thomas Coutts, then 10 years
OF g Q married as his second wife the
famous actress, Harriet Mellon
1t was for her that Holly Lodge on
Highgate Hill vas bought and stocked
with horses, carriages and luxurious fur
niture.
Thomas Coutts died In 1922, leaving
his wife in u~nrestrained possession of all
his personal and landed property, as
,,,1Il - n arno .Horo q, 49, n-.y1 -rllta
Of the banking house.
When. some time afterward, Mrs.
| Coutts became Duchess of st. Adams,
she o care to secure her vast fortune
in her own hands, and at her death left
1t TO Mr.. Coutts' favorite granddaughter,
the present Baroness Burdett-C outts.
The romance connected with the once
famous firm OF Tillotson has been partly
made use Of by Charles Dickens in his
tale of Two Cities"
This bank had n very close relationship
with Paris, many of its customers being
French. r,.
Peter Tillotson had belonged to the
Paris firm OF Tillotson & Necker; this
Necker. first clerk and then q partner,
being the great financial minister whose
wife was the first love of Gibbon. He
migrated to London and established n
bank. which grew to vast proportions, in
connection with the Paris house.
Peter Tillotson's will was of the
most memorable documents ever drawn
up. After leaving modest fortunes to
his wife and sons and daughters, he d.
rected his property to accumulate until
their descendants should become, under
certain conditions, the most opulent of
private individuals. Failing such des-
cendants, the money was to go to pay off
the national debt.
1t has been explained, though with
what amount of truth is not known,
that the accumulation was partly in
tended to provide against the possibility
Of claims being made by the represent
atives OF such of the banks customers
as had persisted by the guillotine in Paris.
Had the original bequest been upheld,
the ultimate inheritor of 1t would have
become the possessor of at least twenty
millions. AS it was, the lawyers wran-
gled over the accruing wealth for many
years, and in the end an act of parlia-
ment was passed rendering such accu
lations impossible in the future.-Lon-
don It'd Bits. H.l