A cheque for £200 drawn on the Ship Bank, February 1828.
The Ship Bank was founded in 1750 by six wealthy Glasgow merchants including Alexander Houston and Andrew Buchanan. It was underwritten by the Bank of Scotland, an Edinburgh bank. Later that year the Glasgow Arms Bank was also formed, backed by another Edinburgh bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland. These new Glasgow banks were very sucessful and they soon started issuing their own banknotes. This infuriated their Edinburgh backers who tried everything in their power to stop them, to no avail.
In 1836 the Ship Bank merged with the Glasgow Bank to form the Glasgow & Ship Bank, which in turn merged with the Union Bank in 1843. The Union Bank lasted until 1955, when it merged with the Bank of Scotland.
Reference: OG.1949.63.a / SP.2000.21
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
bank cheques, Bank of Scotland, bankers, banking, banks, Glasgow & Ship Bank, Glasgow Arms Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ship Bank, Union Bank
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