II., show that the
king himself, the queen mother, Henrietta Maria, James, duke of York, the
prince of Orange, Samuel Pepys, the East India Company, the Goldsmiths'
Company and other city companies did business with him. Sir John Houblon,
the first governor of the Bank of England, kept an account with Blackwell,
who was, however, ruined by the closing of the exchequer in 1672. But his
son married into the family of Sir Francis Child, and his grandsons became
partners in Child's Bank.

[v.03 p.0337] Besides the banks in London already mentioned, one in the
provinces claims to have been established before the Bank of England.
Smiths' of Nottingham, since amalgamated with the Union of London Bank, is
stated to have been founded in 1688. Others also claim considerable
antiquity. The old Bank of Bristol (Bailey, Cave & Co.) was founded in
1750; the business amalgamated with Prescott & Co., Ltd., of London. The
Hull Old Bank (Pease & Co.) dated from 1754; this business also still
continues (amalgamated, 1894, with the York Union Banking Co., Ltd., and
since with Barclay & Co., Ltd.). The banks of Gurney & Co., established at
the end of the 18th century in the eastern counties, have with numerous
other banks of similar standing amalgamated with the firm of Barclay & Co.,
Ltd., of Lombard Street.

The business of banking had been carried on by the goldsmiths of the city,
who took deposits from the time of James I. onwards, and thus established
"deposit-banking" as early as that reign. This is described in a pamphlet
published in 1676, entitled _The Mystery of the New-Fashioned Goldsmiths or
Bankers Discovered_, quoted by Adam Anderson in his _History of the Great
Commercial Interests of the British Empire_, vol. ii. p. 402. During the
Civil War "the goldsmiths or new-fashioned bankers began to receive the
rents of gentlemen's estates remitted to town, and to allow them and others
who put cash into their hands some interest for it, if it remained but for
a single month in their hands, or even a lesser time. This was a great
allurement for people to put their money into their hands, which would bear
interest till the day they wanted it. And they could also draw it out by
L100 or L50, &c., at a time, as they wanted it, with infinitely less
trouble than if they had lent it out on either real or personal security.
The consequence was that it quickly brought a great quantity of cash into
their hands; so that the chief or greatest of