by Roger Outing

As research for the cataloguing of Barclays cheques is currently underway this Cheque News will focus on updates relating the Barclays cheques.  Lots of previously unpublished information here, especially concerning printers and watermarks.  You will not read this stuff anywhere else!

Barclays Major Type Listing

First cataloguing of Barclays cheques is now ongoing.  Take a look at the Cheque Sales section for an outline of the major types identified so far.  Most of the cheque designs fall into a logical and progressive development which very nicely charts the development of Barclays from 1896.  It appears that there will be at least a dozen or so major types for collectors to acquire – with lots of varieties amongst sub-types.  And of course there are over 2,000 Barclays branches.

One unresolved issue is illustrated at Fig. 1 which shows an issued cheque of 1928 from the Pickering Branch on the standard black on white with blue security panel.  However there is no design to the left.   In this example the design appears to have been printed on the counterfoil which has been lost when the cheque was issued.  Most early Barclays cheques have a design printed on the actual cheque and not the counterfoil – as will be seen in other illustrations to this piece.

Examples of Barclays cheques with the design apparently printed on the counterfoil, and therefore missing from issued cheques, are known from Pickering (1927 & 1928); Wisbech (1931); Aylsham (1922); and Norwich (1950).   I emphasise apparently because all examples I have seen are of issued cheques.  What is needed to progress this issue are examples of unissued cheques with counterfoils attached so that the full design can be seen and confirmed.

Does anyone have an unissued Barclays cheque with counterfoil attached and which has the design printed on the counterfoil?  BankNotes4U would just love to see an example.  Please get in touch if you have one. 

The listing of types also notes the movement of the £value from the low left to the mid right – during the late 1940’s.  A simple but significant design change as the low left position for the cheque value in numbers had been in use since the early 1700’s.  All the Banks appear to have made this move during late 1940’s early 1950’s.  Some sort of co-ordinated standardisation was obviously taking place. 

Further modern developments include the introduction of the Code Line in the bottom margin of the cheque.  This started in the 1960’s and marks the start of computerisation of banking procedures.  Internet banking started here.  The Code Line progressively developed from a single number to three numbers.  One example 1971 from Sudbury has four numbers in the Code Line, as illustrated in Fig. 2.  Cheque number, Bank Code number and Account number.  What was the fourth number for?  As always any information to BankNotes4U.

The story of modern cheques, e.g. post 1965, is largely untold.  Huge potential here for those willing to do the research. 

Barclays Printers

Barclays made use of at least six different printing firms for their cheques as shown in Table A below:

Table A - Printers of Barclays Bank Cheques

1a Barclays Patent Indelible

1b Barclay & Fry Ltd, London, SE

1c Barclay & Fry Ltd

1d Barclay & Fry Ltd London SE1                                   

2a Blades, East & Blades, London

2b Blades, East & Blades Ltd, London

2c Blades, East & Blades 

3a Charles Skipper & East, London

3b Charles Skipper & East Ltd, London 

4a Waterlow & Sons Limited, London Wall, London

4b Waterlow & Sons Ltd, London

4c Waterlow & Sons Limited London

4d Waterlow & Sons Ltd

4e  Waterlow & Sons Limited (Security) London 

5  Baynes & Co, London, EC

6  Cowell, Ipswich

As can be seen the six different printers used different company designations at various times.  (The list for each printer indicates the chronological sequence of the differing titles.)  Consequently there are SIXTEEN different designations of printers to be found on Barclays cheques.  More could yet be found.  Quite a challenge for collectors and only The Cheque List on this site lists all these different printers’ styles. 

The printers Barclay & Fry, in four different versions, undoubtably dominates as Barclays cheque printers.  Waterlow & Sons (versions 6b to 6e) are frequently seen on post 1945 cheques although the Waterlow & Sons (version 6a) was an early example and is potentially a rarity.  Blades, East & Blades and Charles Skipper and East are not so frequently seen.  Baynes and Co can only be found on the cheques of Parsons, Thomson, Parsons & Co which have been overprinted with Barclays.  Similarly, Cowell of Ipswich has only so far been seen on Gurneys, Alexanders, Birkbeck, Barclay, Buxton & Kerrison of Hadleigh which have been overprinted by Barclays. 

Were the printers Barclay and Fry connected in any way with Barclays Bank?  If anyone knows please contact BankNotes4u.

Barclays Watermarks

Barclays made use of just four different watermarks as shown in Table B below:

Table B - Watermarks on Barclays Bank Cheques

1.      Waterlow & Sons London

2.      Barclays Bank Limited

3.      London Provincial and South Western Bank LimitedSuperfine

Firstly, most Barclays cheques did not have watermarks because their principle printer, Barclay & Fry, did not use them until the 1950’s.  Therefore collectors will need to search out the pre-1950 watermarks.

The most interesting watermark is without a doubt the Barclays cheques with the watermark “London Provincial and South Western Bank Limited”.  This anomaly arose when Barclays took over London Provincial and South western in 1919.  No doubt the old stocks of security paper were used up which resulted with the Barclays title being printed on paper watermarked with the name of another Bank.  Fig. 3 illustrates a 1920 example from the Clock Tower Branch, 126, North Street, Brighton.  (Sorry, cannot illustrate the actual watermark). 

The most common watermark is “Barclays Bank Limited” which can be found on most later cheques although it can be more difficult to find on earlier pieces.

The “Waterlow & Sons London” watermark is less frequently seen and well worth looking out for.  Cheques from Stanford-le-Hope (1920) and Ferndale – Rhonda (1928) are two known examples of this previously unrecognised variety which might prove difficult to find in the future.  Fig. 4 shows a Ferdale example of 1928 – again watermark not shown.  Reports of other examples would be welcome.

The “Superfine” watermark appears to be limited to the Gurneys, Alexanders, Birkbeck, Barclay, Buxton & Kerrison of Hadley which, as mentioned above, was printed by Cowell of Ipswich.  Collect the printer and you acquire the watermark - although the cheques are not common. 

There is no doubt that this initial research into Barclays cheques has uncovered numerous unknown and previously unreported varieties.  No doubt more remains to be discovered and reported for the first time.  And we still have Midland, Westminster, National Provincial and Lloyds………

Apologies to cheque collectors with wider interests than Barclays Bank. This is just the hot topic of the moment and more people appear to collect Barclays than any other of the Big Five.   Cheque News Number 2 will hopefully have a wider brief. 

Any new information relevant to the above text is welcome.  Please Contact BankNotes4U.  Contributions will be openly acknowledged.

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