Tugwell, Brymer, Clutterbuck & Co

This private bank began as an adjunct to the drapery business of William & Robert Clement, brothers from Perth, who were trading at the sign of the Golden-Thistle & Lace-Card in Wade's Passage, Bath, in around 1760. The Clements gradually built up a banking business. In 1775 the firm advertised the sale of state lottery tickets, adding 'we buy light guineas or Portugues gold' - a function commonly undertaken by bankers.

William Clement died in the 1780s and Robert in 1796, their sons having been admitted as partners. By the late 1780s the banking business had entirely supplanted the drapery trade. In 1787 the bank moved to 17 High Street, opposite the Town Hall, and became known as High Street Bank. In the 1840s it was also known as Bath Bank and from 1860 as Bath Old Bank.

There were a number of partnership changes. In 1891, when known as Tugwell, Brymer, Clutterbuck & Co, the bank merged with the private banks of Dimsdale, Fowler, Barnard & Dimsdales of London; Prescott, Cave, Buxton, Loder & Co of London; and Miles, Cave, Baillie & Co of Bristol to form Prescott, Dimsdale, Cave, Tugwell & Co.

Detailed list of name changes

• Robert & William Clement from c.1760
• Robert Clement snr. & Robert Clement c.1787-96
• Clement & Tugwell 1796-1817
• Clement, Tugwell & Co 1817-28
• Clement, Tugwell & Mackenzie 1828-37
• Tugwell & Co 1837-9
• Tugwell, Mackenzie & Clutterbuck 1839-40s
• Tugwell, Ricardo & Brymer 1852-9
• Tugwell, Brymer & Co 1859-82
• Tugwell, Brymer, Clutterbuck & Co 1882-91

Published histories

• 'Prescott’s Bank', National Provincial Bank Review, 1966-8
• A Jones, 'The Banks of Bath', Notes and Queries, 203, 1958
• The Old Bank Bath, established 1760: The History (Bath: privately published by National Provincial Bank, n.d.)

Summary of our archive holdings

Our archival records of Tugwell, Brymer, Clutterbuck & Co have the reference code TUG.

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

Partnership records

• partnership agreements 1793-1882
• partners’ personal papers 1802-81

Financial records

• balances book 1847-53
• general ledgers 1850-80
• balances ledger 1864-70

Customer records

• customer account ledger 1796-9
• customer papers incl. securities 1794-1831, 1879-90
• cheques and cheque forms 1810s-92
• customer balances books 1847-53, 1884-90
• receipts 1872-88
• securities and safe custody register 1877-91
• forms of charge 1879-90
• credit slip 1880s

Property records

• property title deeds 1818-79
• premises plans n.d, c.1890

Note issue records

• banknotes 1802-40
• banker’s licences 1885-8