#14325, Arabella (Ari) Diana SMITH

Ari, who became engaged to Jack Cobbold #1038 on 11th June 2022 in Venice, is a scion of one of the oldest banking families in England.  Her 9 X great grandfather was Thomas Smith (1631-1699).

SMITH FAMILY, BANKERS

The Smith family is an English aristocratic, banking family whose bank, Smith?s Bank of Nottingham was founded by Thomas Smith (1631-1699) in the 1650s

Thomas Smith was a cloth mercer or merchant who, by 1658 had acquired premises in Pick Lane. His stock book shows that he had begun acting as a banker in the early 1650s, for alongside the entries recording cloth, the book notes loans made to customers. Smith is believed to have been England's first banker outside London.
Smith died in 1699 and his son, also Thomas, took over and developed the banking business. Smith had links with the London goldsmith bankers Edward Backwell and Gilbert Whitehall. A legal deposition dated 1711, concerning the ownership of deposited money, stated that he acted 'in the nature of a Banker, and returns great sums of money to London and ... also for several years past, and his father before him, hath used to take in and receive great sums of money of diverse persons'. The firm issued banknotes.

After the death of Thomas junior in 1727, the business was taken over by his brothers, Samuel and Abel, who were later joined by their own sons. The bank traded as Samuel & Abel Smith & Co from 1727; Abel Smith & Sons from 1751; and Abel Smith & Co from 1757 to 1788. Abel's son, also named Abel, became senior partner in 1758. He founded separate banks in London, Lincoln and Hull, and moved the Nottingham business to larger premises in Market Place in 1754.

Abel junior died in 1788 and his son, Samuel, later took over the business. The firm was called Robert Smith & Co from 1788 to 1792 and Samuel Smith & Co from 1793. The bank?s balance sheet totalled ?138,000 by 1752; ?248,910 in 1797; and ?277,935 in 1808. In 1870 the bank acquired James & Charles Robinson & Co of Mansfield, and in 1880 Godfrey & Riddell of Newark. From 1873 the bank opened a number of branches.

During the 19th century the connections between the Smith family partners loosened and each bank became more autonomous of the London business. In 1902, however, the five Smith family banks amalgamated with Union Bank of London to form Union of London & Smiths Bank.

A plaque on Smith?s Bank in Nottingham reads:

NOTTINGHAM SMITHS BANK BRANCH
THE OLDEST PROVINCIAL BANK IN ENGLAND

In 1658 Thomas Smith (1631-1699)
completed the purchase for ?210 of premises
near this site, where he commenced trade
as a Mercer and where the family banking
business developed shortly thereafter.
Abel Smith II (1717-1788) founded
further Smiths Banks in London in 1758,
Lincoln 1775 and Hull 1784. A bank at
Derby was established in 1806.
These Smiths family banks were organised
as partnerships until 1902 when they
amalgamated with Union Bank of London.
subsequent mergers with National Provincial
Bank of England in 1918 and the
Westminster Bank in 1968 created the present
National Westminster Bank PLC.

Smith?s family motto ? Fidelity, with
Industry and with honour.