Richards & Co

Richards & Co (1854-1920) was a past constituent of NatWest.

This private bank, the last formed in North Wales, was established in 1854 in Llangollen by brothers Charles and Watkin Richards, who began a solicitor’s practice in the town in c.1848. The Richards saw the requirement for a local bank to serve the needs of the industries developing in the district and asked North & South Wales Banking Co to open a branch in Llangollen. Their approach was rebuffed and in 1854 the Richards instead opened an agency account with a London bank, Price, Marryat & Co, and established their own bank under the style of Richards & Co. The bank was also known as Llangollen Bank and from 1863 as Llangollen Old Bank.

The bank was run alongside the legal practice and built up a large and profitable business providing banking services to the owners of coalmines, chemical works and brickfields in the Ruabon and Cefn Mawr districts. Charles Richards died in 1884 and Watkin Richards in c.1900, and they were succeeded by Charles Richards’ sons, Charles Watkin Richards and Richard Septimus Richards. Richard Richards was in turn succeeded by his two sons, Sydney Charles Richards and Richard Watkin Richards, who were also partners in the legal practice of Charles Richards & Sons. By 1920 the bank had a weekly agency at Oswestry.

In 1920 Richards & Co was sold to National Provincial & Union Bank of England of London. Both Sydney and Richard Richards became local directors after the merger. 

Published histories

• A S Davies, The early banks of mid Wales (Welshpool: 1935)

Summary of our archive holdings

Our archival records of Richards & Co have the reference code RIH.

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

• amalgamation papers 1919-21

Summary of archive holdings elsewhere

• Denbighshire Archives: Records of Richards & Sons, solicitors, Llangollen, 1842-1920 (Ref: Richards MSS DD/R)