Northern & Central Bank of England

This joint stock bank was established in Brown Street, Manchester, in 1834 as Northern & Central Bank of England with a capital of £500,000. It was promoted by Joseph Macardy, a Manchester stockbroker, who campaigned actively for a joint stock bank in the north west of England based on local direction. The bank issued its own notes and had almost £372,000 in circulation by 1836. It acquired Joseph Haythorne & George Wright of Bristol in 1834; Mare & Eaton (est. 1808), bankers of Nantwich, in 1834; and Charles Evans (est. 1810), bankers of Manchester, in 1837. The bank soon had a large number of branches over a wide geographical area. By late 1836 the bank was in trouble and sought assistance from Bank of England. The firm never recovered and was liquidated in 1839. The Manchester premises were taken over by Alliance Bank of Manchester in 1839.

Branches: The bank opened around 40 branches between 1834 and 1839.

Published histories

• LH Grindon, Manchester banks and bankers (Manchester: Palmer & Howe, 1877)

Summary of our archive holdings

Our archival records of Northern & Central Bank of England have the reference code NCB.

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

• deeds of settlement 1834-6
• banknotes 1834-6
• securities papers 1837
• assignment of shares 1837
• deed of indemnity re share dividend 1840