Child & Co. is the third oldest bank in the world and is the oldest bank in the UK.
Early beginnings
Child & Co. is the oldest independent financial institution in the UK, and can trace its roots back to a London goldsmith business in the late 17th century. Sir Francis Child established his business as a goldsmith in 1664, when he entered into partnership with Robert Blanchard. Child married Blanchard's stepdaughter and inherited the whole business on Blanchard's death. Renamed Child and Co, the business thrived, and was appointed the "jeweller in ordinary" to King William III. Sir Francis Child took over most of the assets of Coggs & Dann a goldsmith banker "at the sign of the Kings Head in the Strand, over against St. Clement Danes Church", after the bank became insolvent in 1710 due to a massive fraud, orchestrated by gentleman frauster Thomas Brerewood, which became known as the Pitkin Affair. After Child died in 1713, his three sons ran the business, and during this time, the business transformed from a goldsmith's to a fully fledged bank. The bank claims it was the first to introduce a pre-printed cheque form, prior to which customers simply wrote a letter to their bank but sent it to their creditor who presented it for payment. Its first bank note was issued in 1729.
Sarah Fane, Countess of Westmorland
By 1782, Child's grandson Robert Child was the senior partner in the firm. However, when he died in 1782 without any sons to inherit the business, he did not want to leave it to his only daughter, Sarah Anne Child, because he was furious over her elopement with John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland earlier in the year. To prevent the Earls of Westmorland from ever acquiring his wealth, he left it in trust to his daughter's second surviving son or eldest daughter. This turned out to be Lady Sarah Sophia Fane, who was born in 1785. Between the death of Robert child in 1782 and until 1793, the bank was managed by his widow, Sarah Child. Her granddaughter and Robert's grandchild Sarah Sophia Fane married George Child-Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey in 1804, and upon her majority in 1806 she became senior partner. She exercised her rights personally until her death in 1867. At that point the Earl of Jersey & Frederick William Price of Harringay House were appointed as the two leading partners. Ownership continued in the Jersey family until the 1920s.
Later periods, and Glyn, Mills & Co.
In 1923, George, 8th Earl of Jersey sold the bank to Glyn, Mills & Co., a London-based commercial bank. Williams Deacon's Bank acquired Glyn's in 1939, retaining Child & Co. as a separate business.
Location
Child & Co. occupies a grand Grade II* listed building, designed by eminent architect John Gibson, at 1 Fleet Street on the western edge of the City of London. The bank has traded from the same Fleet Street site since 1673. Its current home was opened on the site in 1880 and transformed in 2015.
Clientele
Over their 350-year history Child & Co has attracted an exclusive client base including The Honourable Societies of Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn, and numerous landowning families. Scholars of the Inns receive their awards by cheques drawn on Child & Co, and many barristers continue to use the bank throughout their professional lives. Several universities including The London School of Economics, Oxford University, and Imperial College London are reported to hold accounts. Until 1979 there was a 'representative office' at St. Giles’, Oxford. This was conveniently near the richest college in Oxford, St John's College, who still bank with them today.
