Now! Then! Pending legislation guaranteeing savings bank deposits held in government bonds, the York Saving Bank issues an ambiguous flyer

29 June 1817: Pending legislation guaranteeing savings bank deposits held in government bonds, the York Saving Bank issues an ambiguous flyer

William Camidge. 1886. York Savings’ Bank. York: Yorkshire Gazette Office. Camidge was at the time secretary of the bank. Get it:

Excerpt

The poorest person will find the shillings he lays up for his rent, or for the education of his children, more safe in this bank than in his own drawer, as being out of the reach of his hand, he cannot yield to any sudden temptation; when deposits are made pretty constantly, and are left to continue at interest, the interest also being left, it is surprising how soon a very considerable sum will be made. We find very little in general laid by, by workmen; they have no means of putting their money out; they do not know what to do with it when saved; nobody that can be trusted will take very small sums at interest, and few people like to have money lie by them doing nothing. £50 or £60 is, to be sure now and then, saved by a workman, but he cannot tell who is, or who is not, a safe person to lend it to, and it very often happens that the savings of a long life are entirely lost by being put into bad hands. It will hence appear, how very useful the saving bank must be, as it will take a very small sum to keep for a single week, or let considerable ones lie in it for years, till principal and interest together will make a workman richer than he ever had the least thought of…. It is the intention also of the directors to buy into the public funds, making each person who deals with the bank a stockholder. It necessarily follows from this that the sum returned will not be exactly the same as that deposited. It will be greater or less as the stocks rise or fall. They have been rising a long time, and it is hoped will still rise. It is therefore likely that money put in now will produce more than mere interest. It is possible, however, that the stock of any depositor may sell for less than it cost. This is nothing like the Yorkshire Tontine. There the stocks were uncommonly high when bought, which is not the case now, and the money was not to be had again till the end of seven years. When that time came the stocks were low, so there was a great loss; but here the depositors need not wait seven years, or one year, or a single month, as they may sell their stock on a fortnight’s notice before the first meeting of any month.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

William Camidge worked for the bank, and his account is sympathetic, but he tells how, despite the guarantees provided by the Tory politician George Rose’s bill, the bank wobbled in 1819-20 (Camidge 1886). However, as its portfolio would predict, it seems to have been unaffected by the 1825 stock market crash. Rose’s bill passed shortly before his death, and is unaccountably absent from his Wikipedia page. You can get an idea of his motivation from his pamphlet on the subject (Rose 1816). Gonçalo Fonseca’s life and bibliography is useful.

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Original

YORK SAVING BANK.
TO THE PUBLIC.

There are few labouring persons who cannot at one time of the year or other, save something from their weekly wages. Those who have no children may be constantly laying by more or less, and those who have even many children, do not every week expend all their earnings. The Saving Bank will receive whatever may be spared, to be returned when called on, with the interest due upon it. The poorest person will find the shillings he lays up for his rent, or for the education of his children, more safe in this Bank than in his own drawer, as being out of the reach of his hand, he cannot yield to any sudden temptation, and the richer workman may almost every week be carrying something to the Bank; when deposits are made pretty constantly, and are left to continue at interest, the interest also being left, it is surprising how soon a very considerable sum will be made.

Five shillings a week deposited regularly for twenty years, with its interest, will at four per cent come to £387. 25s. 2d; one shilling a week for that time, would consequently come to £77. 8s. 6d., and so on. We find very little in general laid by, by workmen, without any fault in them; they have no means of putting their money out; they do not know what to do with it when saved; nobody that can be trusted will take very small sums at interest, and few people like to have money lie by them doing nothing. £50 or £60 is, to be sure now and then, saved by a workman, but he cannot tell who is, or who is not, a safe person to lend it to, and it very often happens that the savings of a long life are entirely lost by being put into bad hands. One scarcely ever hears of a bankruptcy, in which several industrious frugal men do not lose the whole they have been able to lay up in perhaps forty or fifty years of hard labour, so that there being no place to put out small savings and large ones being often lost, people have no encouragement to attempt making up a sum for old age, long sickness, want of work, or other needful occasions. It will hence appear, how very useful the Saving Bank must be, as it will take a very small sum to keep for a single week, or let considerable ones lie in it for years, till principal and interest together, will make a workman richer than he ever had the least thought of.

It is seen in the rules, that every man may do just as he likes. He may bring his money once a week, or once a year; he may bring a shilling or £50,and he may take out his all whenever he chooses, only giving fourteen days notice when he takes out his funded stock; his money which is not laid out in stock, he may have at any meeting. Benefit Clubs and Friendly Societies have been of the greatest service to workmen, and it is to be hoped they will long be so, but the Saving Bank appears to be a very necessary addition to them. The Benefit Club only assists in providing for a family where the husband is himself ill, except in the few cases where the wife subscribes to a Female Club, but the illness to the head of a family is only one out of many cases of need. Children as well as parents may have long and expensive illnesses. Work will sometimes be scarce. Old age requires comfort which it cannot provide for itself, and though none of these occasions may occur, a man who is receiving the interest of £100 or £200 is not only more comfortably off for the present than others, but looks forward to the future with more ease and confidence. He both raises himself in the world and his children after him.

As it is impossible to have the trouble of calculating interest on shillings and sixpences, it is not, therefore, intended to reckon interest till sufficient to purchase stock is deposited, nor till the end of the month in which the deposit is made. It is the intention also of the directors to buy into the public funds, making each person who deals with the bank a stockholder. It necessarily follows from this that the sum returned will not be exactly the same as that deposited. It will be greater or less as the stocks rise or fall. They have been rising a long time, and it is hoped will still rise. It is therefore likely that money put in now will produce more than mere interest. It is possible, however, that the stock of any depositor may sell for less than it cost. He must take his chance in this as all stockholders through the kingdom do. The depositors may be informed at any meeting how the stocks go on, so that they may sell out as soon as they like, and before their stock falls much, should it become lower.

This is nothing like the Yorkshire Tontine. There the stocks were uncommonly high when bought, which is not the case now, and the money was not to be had again till the end of seven years. When that time came the stocks were low, so there was a great loss; but here the depositors need not wait seven years, or one year, or a single month, as they may sell their stock on a fortnight’s notice before the first meeting of any month.

It is not doubted that Saving Banks will add so considerably to the comforts of the prudent and industrious that they will ere long be considered one of the greatest advantages that this country is possessed of.

York, June 29th, 1817.

1001 words.