Find Ancestors

I have read twice now that folk have been able to trace ancient Bank Statements/other financial documents of their ancestors.

Does anyone have any idea how to go about this, please???

It seems like a needle in a haystack to me because if you don't know even which Bank to approach . . .

But perhaps there is some 'central' Register???

I would be very interested to know more, please. I will be on this thread all evening.

Thank you in advance.

I think the general rule is that banks don't archive personal bank statements for more than about 6 years.

However, archivists are encouraging businesses to preserve older records - see for instance

www.businessarchivescouncil.org.uk

Thank you Ivy.

The information which I have heard was in relation to very old bank statements (1600's/1700's and 1800's) which had been 'found' and the researcher was able to see the transactions of her ancestor.

Wouldn't that be an amazing thing to see? But I can't think how or where these documents would be . . .

Any ideas, please?

I would not have thought any of my ancestors would have had a Bank account anyway

jax

You could try a google search I suppose. Though I doubt there were bank statements as we know them. You would need well-off ancestors for this to apply I imagine, as most people would have just dealt in cash back then, would you say?.
Jan

No specific knowledge, sorry, so here goes with a few half-remembered items...

Bank accounts for all are a very modern phenomenon; so bank statements from that far back sounds as if it would have been associated with a fair amount of wealth. The space to keep old documents rather than weeding them out also suggests a lengthy connection with one place plus substantial storage space (wealth again). Once an archive had been built up and maintained, it would be more likely to be preserved - antiquarians took an interest in such archives and founded the Victorian County Histories; County Record Offices were established around the 1930s? and began to store all sorts of types of collections. The collections are now so numerous and varied that the National Archives have encouraged Record Offices to contribute to a national catalogue.

I'll see if I can spot any helpful narrative on TNA website.

If you put "bank statements" into the search page (see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp )

and scroll down the results, there are 3 under "domestic"

- one is Midland, and another Westminster banks

- but these appear only to be those of Ramsay McDonald

- and the Foreign Office seem to have ended up with the personal bank statements of Henry Wellesley (covering 1833 to 1943, which suggests that they weren't only his statements) and those of Henry Pottinger (1813-!844).

It doesn't seem as if there is any central repository, just chance as to whether they survived - a bit like old diaries - it is a shame that those rarely survive...

There are some notes here:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/bankrupts-insolvent-1710-1869.htm

on the likelihood of finding detailed transactions on insolvencies.

- and this guide

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/business-history.htm

explains more thoroughly how the National Archives Catalogue to their own holdings is supplemented by the National Register of Archives, collating the catalogues of other archives. It gives a link to the NRA as:

http://www.nra.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra

Ivy, thank you again.

You have gone to so much trouble for me and I am very grateful.

Yes, as you all have suspected there is quite some wealth and social standing too!

E.g., Barristers, senior Indian Army personnel, Indian Civil Service (Judge), landowners, benefactors, etc., etc.

If any of their bank and/or financial documents have survived, I would love to get hold of them.

I find the National Archives and their online catalogue a nightmare! I only went once and devoted a three hour train journey there and back; neither my cousin nor I achieved anything at all despite being very well prepared and they were so short staffed that nobody was available to help us. I have been very fortunate in the past because someone saw my thread (UK Navy 1800's) and took on the search for me the next time he was there - he wouldn't accept any payment but he knows that he will be my friend for life. He found out so much for me about my Great Great Grandfather's amazing naval career, and at the same time also revealed that two of my GGGF's sons had also gone briefly into the Navy after attending Greenwich School.

I ramble.

Any more on the bank statements question, please?

The NRA link above takes you to a powerful serach option, which includes names - their example is "Arthur Wellesley". The results of the search are listed and the contact details of the relevant repository is listed prominently.

I do sympathise about trying to visit TNA in person - organising the time and the travel alone is difficult and from reading the guides, it sounds as if it is all too easy to achieve nothing by a personal visit. Carrying out research by phone/email, if you are prepared to wait for a few weeks is much easier. Perhaps try one of the smaller repositories to begin with?

I hope you do find something of interest.

May I give this a little nudge in case you are all glued to your computers on this wet and windy night??

Thank you. :-)

Nicola.....
Given the Irish Dublin connection you may want to try the following site....

The RBS now holds the archived material of the National Bank of Ireland...estab.1835 Dublin....(Agents for the bank were based in London)
www.heritagearchives.rbs.com

Bank of Ireland est 1783..also has Archives.

What happened with your Fitzgerald thread...you never came back to it...??

Erin, you have an amazing memory. Fancy remembering that thread about the Fitzgerald/Barry connection. I am impressed!

I keep getting sidetracked on to other family threads, and having also to fit in a very demanding job. Wish I could just concentrate on my family research and also that it would pay me instead of my career . . . Ha ha.

Thank you for thinking of the Dublin connection for the banking thread but I am looking for this information in connection with my English family ancestors, because they were the ones with the wonga!

I will return to the Fitzgerald thread soon.

Thank you again. :-)

Nicola....This may help if you can get hold of it..!!!

•Eric D Probert, Company and Business Records for Family Historians (Federation of Family History Societies 1994)

I see it flagged up for the Local History Section Leicester Library...also Nat Archives...(That site gives me nightmares...dont know who can work their way through it...needless to say I gave up...)

It gives details and locations of deposited records of over 600 banks....eg Tower Hamlets Local History Library holds Ledgers of Limehouse Savings Bank 1816-1896.....

The Bank of England has a Museum and Archive section (Threadneedle St.) which houses records from when it was a Commercial Bank.....

Given the "Families" and their backrounds etc. it is probable they invested in Stocks Shares and Gilts etc.....another but different avenue to peruse.
Bear in mind that they may not have "banked" locally but used one that had been connected with the family through generations....