Curious Claim on the Bank of England.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 25, Issue 40, 26 May 1914, Page 2

Curious Claim on the Bank of England.

Though the Bank of England, in the course of its long career, has been called upon to meet innumerable claims, it is questionable whether it has ever had a more singular demand made upon it than that which forms the subject of the present paragraph, nnd which, moreover, has the merit of being founded on fact, instead of fiction.

Oh May 15, 1841, a stockbroker’s clerk who had reached the ripe age of ninety-three, left by mistake in the Accountant’s Office of the Bank of England a large number of banknotes, amounting to several thousand pounds. Upon discovering his loss, and after making a vain search for the missing parcel, he hied himself back to Threadneedle-street as a last hope that he might there find the vanished treasure. To his great joy he found the parcel safe in the accountant’s hands, and earnestly entreated that oflicial to keep the matter secret, lest his (the cjerk’s.) emoloyers should think his faculties were failing, as a result of his advanced years.

The accountant, Mr. Smee, not only gave the veteran the required assurance, but also told him that when he had attained the age of 100 years, if he called at the Bank, he would treat him to the finest bottle of wine which the cellars of the "Old Lady’’ could produce. A few years afterwards the old clerk was pensioned off by his employers, and, in the course of time, remembering the promise which the accountant seven years previously had made to him, he duly presented himself at the Bank to establish his "claim.’’

The centenarian found Mr. Smee still occupying the same responsible office at Threadneedle-street, and the accountant was both pleased and surprised to see the old clerk of former years again. He at once recalled the compact of 1841, and when his aged visitor took his departure the cellars of the Bank held one bottle less of its choicest vintages !