Bank

A visitor today to Hindley, three miles from Wigan and a couple of miles through the ancient Borsdane Wood (featured yesterday), would see a rather dilapidated small town with the usual array of charity shops and boarded up businesses - a far cry from its illustrious past.
This is the town that my Dad grew up in the 1920s and 30s. His family had migrated from Wales in the latter part of the 19th century to work in the coal mines and later, the cotton mills. They weren?t the only ones. The population of Hindley increased during the 19th century from 2,300 in 1811 to 23,000 in 1911 reflecting the transformation of the town from a country village to small, densely populated industrial town. The economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s hit Hindley hard and by the time of the Second World War the population had declined to 19,000.
The period between the first and Second World Wars was marked by the closure of most collieries and mills. The great depression and General Strike of 1926 brought poverty to many families. No work meant no food and Dad remembered going to bed hungry on many occasions.
Looking carefully at some of the buildings, many built by local industrialists, you can see the civic pride and wealth once present.
Today?s blip is of the Royal Bank of Scotland. In 1836 a group of wealthy industrialists some undoubtedly from this area founded a new joint-stock bank. After rapid expansion this became Williams Deacon & Manchester & Salford Bank Ltd., simplified to Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd, in 1901. After the First World War the bank's policy of expansion grew and 52 new branches were opened between 1919 and 1922 and this was probably the time that the branch in Hindley was built reflecting the architectural style of the time in the confident modern image of the ornate façade
In 1929 The Royal Bank of Scotland of Edinburgh made an offer for the company's entire share capital. Purchase terms, involving a transfer of shares, were finally agreed in 1930 and Williams Deacon's branches became the foundation of The Royal Bank of Scotland's branch network in England. One final name change in 1970 saw The Royal Bank of Scotland?s subsidiaries in England and Wales, Williams Deacon's Bank, Glyn, Mills & Co, bankers of London, and the English and Welsh branches of The National Bank of London merged to form Williams & Glyn's Bank which some of you may remember, before RBS finally emerged in more recent years.
Seen better days ? like much of the town, but a few little gems to see over the next few days.