Fector & Co

This private bank traces its origins to the merchanting business established in Dover by the French Huguenot refugee Stephen Minet in c.1686 after fleeing Calais. Minet died in 1690 and the business was taken over by his brother, Isaac, who became an important local merchant and shipping agent. From the outset the family also owned a linked commercial firm in London.

By c.1743 the Dover business was undertaking banking business alongside merchanting and agency work. In 1740 Peter Fector, Isaac’s brother’s grandson, joined the Dover firm. Isaac Minet died in 1745 and the business was continued by his son, William Minet. Peter Fector bought a share in the partnership in 1746 and in 1751 married into the Minet family. The Dover firm traded as William Minet & Co from 1752. William died in 1767 and by 1770 Peter Fector had assumed control of the Dover firm, developing the banking business and rapidly becoming one of Dover’s wealthiest citizens.

In 1814 Peter Fector died and his son and partner, John Minet Fector, assumed control of the Dover business and separated it from the London firm of Minet & Fector that had previously acted as its London agent. Thereafter Smith, Payne & Smiths became the Dover firm’s London agent. John Minet Fector died in 1821 and thereafter the commercial firm was separated from the bank as Fector & Co. The bank traded independently as J Minet Fector & Co, managed from 1821 by George Jarvis and from 1827 by Henry Bruyeres.

In 1833 John Fector, John Minet Fector’s son, came of age and assumed control. The bank was styled Fector & Co by 1841; it was also known as Dover Bank and later as Dover Old Bank. The bank issued its own notes. In 1842 John Fector sold Fector & Co to National Provincial Bank of England.

Detailed list of name changes

• Stephen Minet from c.1686
• Isaac Minet from 1690
• William Minet & Co 1752-1767
• Minet & Fector 1767-1783
• Fector & Minet 1783-1814
• John Minet, Fector & Co 1814-1821
• J Minet Fector & Co 1821-1841
• Fector & Co by 1841-1842

Published histories

• L Sencicle, Banking on Dover (Dover: privately published, 1993)

Summary of our archive holdings

Our archival records of Fector & Co have the reference code FEC.

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

• guardbook of forms, circulars, presscuttings, banknotes and letters of credit 1783-1906
• banker’s drafts 1790, 1801
• banknote 1791
• cheque 1842

Summary of archive holdings elsewhere

• Lincolnshire Archives: Partner’s will 1806; papers re partnership matters 1814-42; partner’s private diary 1821-27 (Ref: Jarvis V/E passim; Jarvis V/B 7, 9-10; Jarvis V/AS, 11.1-10)