again to the year 1836. At this time trade
was good and everything looked prosperous. Mr. Geach, who was still a
clerk in the Bank of England, conceived the idea of starting a fresh
bank, and having secured the adhesion of a few influential men, the
prospectus was issued of the Town and District Bank, capital L500,000,
in 25,000 shares of L20 each. The shares were taken up readily, and
the branch commenced business in Colmore Row, on the 1st of July,
1836. The directors were Messrs. George Bacchus (chairman), Edward
Armfield, George J. Green, George C. Lingham, John G. Reeves, Josiah
Richards, and Philip Williams.

Although the bank had been started entirely through the exertions of
Mr. Geach, who naturally expected to be appointed the manager, he was
left out in the cold, and the appointment fell upon Mr. Bassett Smith.
This gentleman had been a clerk to the firm of Gibbins, Smith, and
Co., until their stoppage, and he afterwards was manager of a bank at
Walsall, which appointment he threw up when he came to the District
Bank. He held his position as manager here for many years, but was
eventually induced to retire; He certainly was not a great banking
genius. He was led more by impulse and feeling than by sound business
judgment and coolness, and he often made mistakes in his estimate
of the customers. Some--whom he liked--would "get on" easily enough,
while others, equally worthy of attention, might ask in vain for
slight accommodation. Nor was his manner judicious. I was in the
bank one day, when a highly respectable man brought some bills to the
counter to be placed to his account. The clerk took them to Mr. Smith,
who was near the counter; he turned them over in his hand, and giving
them back to the clerk, with a contemptuous gesture, said, loud enough
to be heard by everyone there, "No!--a thousand times no!" Had the
customer been a swindler he could not have been treated with greater
insult and contumely. It was a fortunate thing for the bank when Mr.
Barney became manager. From that time the bank has assumed its proper
position. Under its new designation of the "Birmingham and Dudley
District Banking Company" it has taken rapid strides. There is every
reason now for thinking it is highly prosperous, and is likely to have
a future of great use and profit. The new premises are an ornament to
an ornamental part of the town, and are very conveniently arranged;
but to people with weak eyes, the light from the window