arge towns of England. In
pursuance of the powers thus granted, the first branch was opened
at Gloucester on July 19th of that year. Others were started at
Manchester, September 21st, and Swansea, October 23rd. On New
Year's Day, 1827, the Branch Bank of England commenced business in
Birmingham, occupying the premises of the defunct firm of Gibbins,
Smith, and Goode, in Union Street, now the Gas Offices of the
Corporation. The first manager was Captain Nichols, who brought with
him, from the parent bank, a staff of clerks. One of these, a mere
youth at the time, was destined to fill an important position in the
town and in the country. This was Charles Geach; a very remarkable
man, of whom I shall have more to say by and by.

Captain Nichols was succeeded by Captain Tindal, brother of the
illustrious jurist, Lord Chief Justice Tindal. During this gentleman's
tenure of office the business was removed to the premises in Bennetts
Hill, vacated by the unfortunate "Bank of Birmingham," of which more
hereafter. Here the business has ever since been conducted.

Captain Tindal was a good man of business, and under his management
the bank was very prosperous. He was a man of highly-cultivated mind.
He took a very active interest in all local matters connected with
literature and art, and he was a very liberal patron of the drama.
Those who had the pleasure of being present at the pleasant _soirees_
at his house, to which he was accustomed to invite the literary and
artistic notabilities of the neighbourhood, will not easily forget how
pleasantly the evenings passed; how everyone enjoyed the charades
and theatricals which were so excellently managed by the gifted
Miss Keating, then a governess in the family; how, too, everyone was
charmed with the original and convenient arrangement for supplying
visitors with refreshments. Instead of the conventional "sit-down
suppers" of those days, Captain Tindal had refreshment counters and
occasional tables dotted here and there, so that his friends took what
they pleased, at the time most convenient to themselves. One room was
very popular. Within its hospitable portals, hungry bipeds of the male
persuasion were supplied, to their intense satisfaction, with abundant
oysters, and unlimited foaming Dublin stout. Oysters were then five
shillings the barrel of ten dozens! _Tempora mutantur; spero meliora!_

It was a great loss to social and artistic Birmingham when Captain
Tindal was removed