ROMANCE OF A GREAT BANKING BUSINESS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13907, 7 November 1919, Page 8

ROMANCE OF A GREAT BANKING BUSINESS.

•" One hundred and fifty-nine yours ago there iirrived in London a tall. thin, earelesslv-dressed voung man named Thomas Coutts. He was the younger son of a well-known Edinburgh banker, and behind his quiet, manner and rather ■diabbv clothes he hid a. brilliant brain and financial ability of the very highest order. Ho had conic to take over the old-established banking business of Mr Middleton.- established at 59. 'lhe Strand, and he was joined as partner oy his elder brother .lames. The firm was known as .fames and Thomas Coutts. No. 59. old as it was, was not the original home of Coutts'. That had been at the sign of "The Three Crowns," in St. Martin's Lane. Itwas Mr Middleton, son-in-law of the founder of the business, who, in 1-3' moved to the Strand. Mr Middleton s partner was Thos. Halliburton, greatgrandfather of Sir Walter Scott. " James Coutts had a country servant, a prcttv. bright-faced/ good-tempered* girl named Elizabeth 'Starkey. Thomas fell in love with and married her. She made him an" excellent wife and the pair had three handsome daughters, I who all married well. Their respective husbands were Sir Francis Burdett, the Earl of Guilford, and the Marquess ol Bute. , , c The. bank prospered amazingly, loi Thomas Coutts was a man of rare business abilities. He was tall and thin and, although he soon became weaithv, it was his whim to dress so badly that strangers often took him for some poor person.'. His quiet and unassuming manner added considerably to the deception. ■ - On one occasion the great banker was staying at Worthing A benevolent old gentleman, seeing the tall, lean figure in faded suit pacing each day alon"- a quiet road with bent. head, decided that the stranger was in trou'ble or difficulty, and one day followed him. i slipped a guinea, into his hand,, ana hurried away. Mr Coutts. turning.m astonishment, saw the old gentleman just disappearing into a house. He quite appreciated the kindly intention behind the act, and at once made inquiries as to his benefactor,s identity. He learnt-that his anonymous friend had once been a rich merchant, biu had met with misfortune, and .now baa onlv enough to live very modestly in the" counti'v. A day or two later the old gentleman received an invitation which astonished him greatly. It was to dine with Mr Coutts. 'He accepted, and imagine Ins dismay when he touna who his host was! But Mr- Coutts shook him heartily by the hand, and introduced him to his friends as the kindest most generous-hearted in an he had ever met. "I shall not return vour gift," he said, "but as long as Tom Courts lives vou shall never want for a friend." That promise Mr Coutts kept to the letter, and the guinea is still the "luck piece*." of the great Strand bank. In 1815 Mr Coutts married again, his second wife being the beautiful Harriet .Mellon. At this time he lived inStartton street, where he frequently entertained Royalty., He. died in 1822 at tile age of 87, and the carriages of 40 noblemen followed his hearse. His estate was sworn at £6,000.000 "within tlie province of Canterbury." This means that the sum, an enormous one in those days, did not include foreign securities, which amounted to another £300,000. Mrs Coutts succeeded to the business, and well deserved the trust reposed in her bv her husband. Her chanties were great but never ostentatious. Later."she married again, oecomtug Duchess of St. Albans. . Dying m 1837, she left a large part of Iter property to the u-rand-daughter of Mr Coutts, Miss Burdett, who was then 23 years of age. This was the lady who became world famous for her wise charities, j ;>nd who. in 1871. was made a peeress in her own right >by the Government, and was better known as ihe Baroness Burdett-Coutts. At last, after many years, even t-ue spacious premises at 59 became too small for the ever-increasing business, and iv.-w premises were built just across the sheet. On the last Saturday tiy .lulv. i9IH. there moved leisurely across tin- - Strand, from the south side to the ncriii. some millions of pounds, mostly in lvink-netes. and probably not one person in all the hundreds who were passin"- to and fro. at the moment had the f:<mte-t idea or their neighborhood tosuch wealth. On that day the great firm of Coutts and Co., Bankers, moved from their oid quarters to No. 440. c-n the north side of the street. In its way the scene was hisitorie. A few minutes before one on that Saturday the whole staff, from junior clerks te'racn whose hair had whitened in the ■-■ei-viee of the firm., were assembled in the eld building. At- cue they all filed, out, the door was closed, and the occiir><mcy of the old house, which had lasted close on two centuries, was at an end. At-the same time- a private brougham drove out of James street, Adehilu. and; made- its veav bv John street, Buckingham street,''and the Strand, to Adelaide street, where there is a side entrance to the new bank. There, under the direction of Mr Malcolm, the senior partner, its precious contents were transferred to the great strong rooms of No. 440, The bullion bad been already moved; so had the chests of plate and other valuables. So, too. hod the books, a huge stack of them, dating from the year 1692. and which contain what is probably the most wonderful set of autograph's at present in existence. Great names ore in those, books, and no doubt inside the chests also, for ever since the davs of George 11. our Eoyal Family have done business with this greatest !of private banks. The Iron Duke had, 1 a.n account at Coutts; so had Sir Walter Scott. Charles Dickens. Lord Maeaulny. Fitt. the Shah of Persia, and. other notabilities whose- names would! make a list to- fill a column of this

p'aner. Nelson himself once deposited in the sironf rooms a diamond aigrette presented to him by an "Pastern potentate, who took it out of Ms own turban to pin it on the coat of the admiral. (.hie propcrtv—one cnlv—was not moved with the .rest. This 'was <he ghost. No one knows whose ghost, hut possibly he is. or was. the owner of one of those ancient chests. At anv rate, when the clearance- began ,»t No. 59. tlic poor thing became- sadly uneasy, and it is said that down in the dim old strong room, thirty feet below the level of file street, groans were heard for many days and nights before the move. Coutts have always been .sticklers for ancient custom, and one at least of their old traditions is kept to this day.' ft is an unwritten law that members of. the staff shall be clean' shaven, and, every one. bf the present staff, who. ntimber more than 100. still observe this rule.