Birmingham Municipal Bank

The Birmingham Municipal Bank was a savings bank in the city of Birmingham, England. It was created as the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank by a 1916 Act of Parliament, to raise money to aid World War I. It was the first, and only, municipal bank in the country.

History

Suggested by local politician Neville Chamberlain in 1915, the bank was originally for savings from earnings, earning interest at 3.5%, with most of the income reserved for the government. It opened on 29 September 1916 after resistance from the banks and the Treasuryfact|date=August 2008. It had achieved 30,000 new investors by the end of 1917 and was made permanent in 1919.

The name changed to Birmingham Municipal Bank by a 1919 Act which allowed the creation of branch banks. By 1950 there were 66 branches. The bank's headquarters moved from a basement (1916) to the Council House (1919), to Edmund Street (1925), and finally to a new building by Thomas Cecil Howitt opposite what is now Centenary Square at 301 Broad Street which was opened on November 27, 1933 by Prince George. [Birmingham Municipal Bank, new head offices, souvenir of opening ceremony performed by His Royal Highness The Prince George, K.G., 27th November, 1933] It ceased to be a department of the city council in 1976, becoming a Trustee Savings Bank [cite web|url=http://www.banking-history.co.uk/birmingham.html|title=Birmingham Municipal Bank|author=British Banking History Society|date=2003|accessdate=2008-08-27] , and moved to the former central Post Office building in New Street. Ultimately the TSBs were privatised, and in 1995 became part of Lloyds TSB.

utton Coldfield controversy

In 1935, Birmingham Municipal Bank caused controversy in Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield, when they outlined plans to open a branch in the town for the 4,000 residents who had accounts in the bank. Their plans created an outcry from people who believed that Birmingham was attempting to annexe Sutton Coldfield. The protest resulted in a heated debate in the city's council chamber to whether a written guarantee should be submitted to Sutton Coldfield outlining that they were not proposing to annexe the town. A spokesperson for Birmingham later said that they had no plans of annexing the town. ["The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield - A Commemorative History", Douglas V. Jones, 1994, Westwood Press (ISBN 0-9502636-7-2)] Subsequently, following the Local Government Act 1972, Sutton Coldfield was merged into the city of Birmingham in 1974.

Building

The building on Broad Street was bought by Birmingham City Council in 2006, after it was no longer required by Lloyds TSB. [cite web |url=http://www.kingsturge.co.uk/news/birmingham-city-council-buys-landmark-building-on-broad-street.htm |title=Birmingham City Council buys landmark building on Broad Street |publisher=King Sturge |date=2006-05-09 |accessdate=2008-06-07] The building was granted grade II listed status on October 14, 1996. [IoE|462175]

In March 2007, Birmingham Opera Company produced a new version of Mozart's "Don Giovanni", renamed "He Had It Coming", in the bank.

References

Further reading

*"A History of Birmingham", Chris Upton, 1993, ISBN 0-85033-870-0
*"A History of the County of Warwick, Volume 7 – The City of Birmingham", ed W. B. Stephens, University of London Institute of Historical Research, Oxford University Press, 1964