Hammersley, Greenwood & Brooksbank

Hammersley, Greenwood & Brooksbank (1780s-1840), established in London, was a past constituent of Coutts & Co.

This private bank traced its origins to Ransome, Morland & Hammersley, established at 57 Pall Mall, in London’s West End, in the mid 1780s. By 1787 it was banker to the Prince of Wales and in 1792 the Prince’s debts to Hammersleys, totalling over £46,000, were discharged by the banker Thomas Coutts. By 1796 Thomas Hammersley was in partnership with Montolieu, Brooksbank, Greenwood & Drewe at 76 Pall Mall. The business was of considerable size, employing 16 clerks in 1801. Montolieu and Drewe retired in 1804 and by 1820 respectively; in 1823 the bank was styled Hammersley, Greenwood & Brooksbank and was based at 69 Pall Mall. In 1838 a merger with Coutts & Co was proposed, but did not proceed. In 1840, however, following the death of the senior partner Hugh Hammersley, Coutts & Co acquired the bank’s assets and its business was discontinued.

Published histories

• FG Hilton Price, A Handbook of London bankers (London, Chatto & Windus, 1876)
• E Healey, Coutts & Co 1692-1992. The Portrait of a Private Bank (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1992)

Summary of our archive holdings

For more information about these records, or to enquire about using them for research, please contact the Coutts Archivist: tracey.earl@coutts.com.

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

• signature book 1795-1840
• papers re merger 1840

Summary of archive holdings elsewhere

• London Metropolitan Archives: List of bank drafts in account book of B Latrobe, architect 1792-5 (Ref: Acc 931/1)
• Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies: Papers of Sir Scrope Bernard Morland, director, including correspondence with clients and other banks 1780-1832 (Ref: D/SB/PFD/2-10)