Beckett & Co, York & East Riding Bank

This private bank was established in 1790 as Sir Christopher Sykes & Co, with a main office in Hull and branches in Beverley and Malton. It was also known as the East Riding Bank.

Robert Raikes subsequently joined the partnership. He was also a partner in the bank Curries & Co of London, but withdrew from the latter bank in 1813 and concentrated his interests on the East Riding Bank in partnership with his cousin, Thomas Raikes.

By 1875 the bank was known as Bower, Hall & Co. In that year Mr Hall, one of the partners, retired, and the business was taken over by Beckett & Co, becoming known as the East Riding Bank of Beckett & Co. It continued to trade as an independent business, with the three existing partners, RH Bower, JR Pease and GA Duncombe, being joined by W Beckett Denison and C Beckett Denison from Beckett's.

In 1879 the York bank Swann, Clough & Co got into difficulties and was acquired by East Riding Bank, which subsequently became known as York & East Riding Bank of Beckett & Co.

The bank continued to operate as a separate entity from the Leeds Bank until 1921, when the two Beckett banks were both taken over by London County Westminster & Parr's Bank.

Detailed list of name changes

• Sir Christopher Sykes & Co from 1790
• R C Broadley, Sykes & Co 1801-1805
• Robert Raikes & Co 1805-1808
• Robert Raikes, William Currie & Isaac Currie from 1808
• Bower, Duesbury & Co from 1813
• Bower, Hutton & Hall from 1840
• Bower, Hall & Co from 1850-1875
• Beckett & Co 1875-1921

Published history

• WCE Hartley, Banking in Yorkshire (Lancaster: Dalesman Publishing Co Ltd, 1975).

Summary of our archive holdings

Our archival records of Beckett & Co, York & East Riding Bank have the reference code BEY.

For help understanding words used here, check our glossary of banking record types (PDF 68 KB).

Partnership/corporate records

• partnership deeds 1849-1862
• papers re admission of partner 1870-1881
• amalgamation agreement 1875

Financial records

• bank balance books 1808-1813
• private ledger 1867-1875
• balance sheet 1874
• papers re financial position 1874

Customer records

• papers re securities 1831-1880
• customer papers 1838, 1873-1877

Property records

• property purchase agreements 1861-1862
• premises valuation 1875
• architectural drawing, Helmsley branch, 1921

Note issue records

• note register 1824-1868
• banknotes 1893-1919

Branch records

• selected records

Summary of archive holdings elsewhere

• Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull: ‘Hull account’ 1793; valuation of securities 1794-1798; stock accounts 1794-1799; balances of accounts 1795-1799; ‘list of our friends at Hull’ n.d. (Ref: DDSY/79/3)