by Roger Outing

North & South Wales Bank

A couple of queries have been received concerning the distinctive design of the cheques of the North & South Wales Bank. As can be seen from the illustration at Fig. 1 their cheques have a distinctive ruled box at the left with ascending values of £10, £30, £130 etc. etc. The question is, what was this for? 

The answer lies with the words “Not Exceeding” which can be seen top left. It should also be noted that there is no space elsewhere on the cheque for cheque value in numbers to be written. This is because you had to write the value in numbers at the appropriate level in the box at the left.  So if your cheque were for £100 then that value would be entered on the appropriate line e.g. “Not exceeding £130”. 

In this way all cheques were automatically endorsed with “value not exceeding….” which served as a useful anti-forgery device in preventing the cheques been fraudulently increased in value. A reference to a Patent No. on the cheque indicates that the Bank patented this design. 

This distinctive design feature was also incorporated into the 1920’s cheques of the Bank of British West Africa. This bank had a branch in Liverpool so no doubt was copying the North & South Wales Bank.

National Provincial - New Design?

You might have thought that by 1945 most cheque designs would have been fairly standardised.  Not so for the National Provincial Bank who introduced the unusual design illustrated at Fig. 2.  This is a 1945 cheque for Scarborough and notice that the signature is now required at the lower left with the value in numbers required at the lower right. This was a reversal of the standard practise up till then.  Most unusual and potentially most confusing for the customers. It can be seen that the new space for the signature had to be specifically labelled as such.

This novel design layout has only been seen on the Scarborough cheque illustrated.  As always any additional sightings to BankNotes4U would be appreciated. Does any retired National Provincial employee perhaps know what this was all about?  Please get in touch if you have any info.

Rejoined Cheques

Newcomers to cheque collecting quickly learnt that there are different categories of cheque.  Firstly, there are unused cheques – those that have not been used and invariably have the counterfoil attached.  Secondly, there are used cheques – those that have passed through the banking system and are invariably without a counterfoil attached.  And thirdly?

Well there are used cheques that have used, passed through the banking system, been returned to the original drawer, and then re-united with their original counterfoil? I call these re-joined cheques.

Until the 1970’s it was common practise for all banks to return all paid cheques to the drawer.  Some businesses would then adopt the routine of physically re-uniting their paid and returned cheques with their appropriate counterfoil. This was a final check against errors and misuse.

Fig. 3 shows a paid cheque for The Union Bank of London drawn on “Jany. 26th 1881” for the amount of “One Pound 18/-”.  Not the largest value cheque in the world. The re-attached counterfoil makes interesting reading for it states, “Extra over transfers of Norwich Equitable.” So now we know the business transaction that this cheque paid for. 

Furthermore, on the reverse of the counterfoil (not illustrated) is the following self-explanatory calculation:

Now we know the precise state of the account at the time the cheque was paid. A small but complete piece of social history captured in one single cheque.

It is important to note that the cheque and the counterfoil, as well as having matching handwriting, also carry the same serial number, “EM65486”. This is the essential confirmation that it is the original cheque and the original counterfoil that have been re-united.

This third category of cheque e.g. a used cheque with counterfoil re-attached is really the only full and complete type of cheque that exists.  It is less frequently seen than both the unused or normal used cheque and examples are well worth looking out for.

Barclays Update

In Cheque News No.1 we made a plea for an example of an unissued Barclays cheque where the design, of Bank initials, was printed on the counterfoil. No sooner said than done.  See Fig. 4 for an example of a 1928 Barclays cheque from Castleford. The Bank initials within the shield are to left of the perforations and would have been lost if the cheque had been used.  

It will be seen that the shield design is also ‘cropped’ to the left hand side. From examination of the original it appears that this is exactly as it was produced. If so, it is a poor design for a piece of cheque security printing. It is apparent that these cheques did not have a counterfoil at the left for entering the cheque details. Presumably the cheque had a separate page for these details to be entered.  Reports of any further examples, from Castleford or elsewhere, would be appreciated. Acknowledgements to T.R. from Ilford, (a retired ‘Midland’ man) for providing this particular item. 

Lloyds Bank Watermark Variety

In Cheque News No. 1 we mentioned the Barclays Bank cheque with watermark of “London Provincial and South Western Bank Ltd”.  We now report a similar situation with a 1920 Lloyds Bank cheque from St Ives with the watermark “The Capital and Counties Bank Limited”.  Fig. 4 gives an illustration – watermark not shown. The Capital and Counties Bank was taken over by Lloyds in 1918 and obviously old stocks of security paper were being utilised. 

The sharp eyed will also not that this cheque also states “Formerly Messrs. Foster & Co” at upper left so this is a triple title cheque with a private bank and two joint stock titles as well as the watermark variety. Great item.

Collectors are well accustomed to cheques being overprinted with new Bank titles when takeovers have taken place. The possibility that watermarks may also record these developmental changes is not so widely appreciated. Any further reports of such watermark variations greatly appreciated. Acknowledgements to B.D. of Liverpool for providing this particular item.

British Banking History Society

A great organisation that is run by collectors for collectors (and formerly known as the British Cheque Collectors Society). If you collect cheques or other any banking memorabilia then the annual membership fee of £12 is a complete bargain. You get a quarterly journal; a specialist postal cheque auction; visits to bank archives; and informal meetings with other cheque collectors. Send £12 to BankNotes4U, with or without an order, and your membership will be arranged. Alternatively write to Membership Secretary, Michael Lord at 14, Garsdale Road, Newsome, Huddersfield, HD4 6QZ.

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

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