THE REIGATE AND DARKING BANK.
The banking business was founded in 1808 by Joseph Nash and Thomas Gale senior, and was styled the Reigate and Darking Bank, and business was conducted from premises on the corner of the High Street and Bell Street, Reigate.
Thomas Neale assumed control as manager of the bank in 1827 out of necessity and not from choice, as very serious losses had been sustained during the previous two years, and Mr. Gale junior, the former manager had succumbed under these difficulties. Had not Thomas Neale possessed the energy and the means to come forward, his partners, and many others who were dependent on the bank at that period, would have undoubtedly been ruined.
The result of his management up to 1842 was a profit of about £20,000, after expenses, of which £6,700 had been equally divided between his partner, Mr. Nash, and himself. The remainder was applied towards making good the losses that had accrued prior to his assuming control [1].
A rigid examination of the books in 1842 revealed that there were more actual losses and further estimated losses to be provided for; no subsequent division of profit therefore was made.
The fact that the bank made a profit of £20,000 indicated the extent of Thomas Neale's efforts, for it is believed that had it been forced to close when he took over its management the losses would have been well in excess of this sum. In 1827 there had been many outstanding debts due on which only interest was being paid, and had he not pursued and obtained repayment of these loans in full, the bank would undoubtedly have had to be content in continuing to accept dividend payments and leave the capital to remain outstanding [2].
These results encouraged hopeful expectations of future success. Because the bank was going through hard times, he invited his two sons, Thomas junior and William, to join him in partnership at the brewery in order that they run it for him, and so leave him to concentrate on restoring bank affairs to order. The capital that they raised, partly by the brothers, and partly by £1,000 as a portion of Thomas junior's wife's property, was used to acquire the necessary shares [3].
A succession of heavy financial demands on the bank during 1847 and 1848, together with a call for £7,000 in 1850 by one of the contractors for the Brighton Railway, then in the course of construction, led to the discovery of a large deficiency at the Dorking agency. These setbacks checked the hope of a speedy recovery of past losses. Recent profits were diminished also by the outlay for new premises and other heavy expenses attendant on the death of Mr. Overton, the Dorking agent. Consequently, bankruptcy was inevitable.
In Thomas junior's letter to his father's creditors, written on the 12th March, 1851, the position was only too clearly explained, and he went to great lengths to exonerate his father from any blame attached to the bank's failure. Of his father, young Thomas had this to say:
The banking business was founded in 1808 by Joseph Nash and Thomas Gale senior, and was styled the Reigate and Darking Bank, and business was conducted from premises on the corner of the High Street and Bell Street, Reigate.
Thomas Neale assumed control as manager of the bank in 1827 out of necessity and not from choice, as very serious losses had been sustained during the previous two years, and Mr. Gale junior, the former manager had succumbed under these difficulties. Had not Thomas Neale possessed the energy and the means to come forward, his partners, and many others who were dependent on the bank at that period, would have undoubtedly been ruined.
The result of his management up to 1842 was a profit of about £20,000, after expenses, of which £6,700 had been equally divided between his partner, Mr. Nash, and himself. The remainder was applied towards making good the losses that had accrued prior to his assuming control [1].
A rigid examination of the books in 1842 revealed that there were more actual losses and further estimated losses to be provided for; no subsequent division of profit therefore was made.
The fact that the bank made a profit of £20,000 indicated the extent of Thomas Neale's efforts, for it is believed that had it been forced to close when he took over its management the losses would have been well in excess of this sum. In 1827 there had been many outstanding debts due on which only interest was being paid, and had he not pursued and obtained repayment of these loans in full, the bank would undoubtedly have had to be content in continuing to accept dividend payments and leave the capital to remain outstanding [2].
These results encouraged hopeful expectations of future success. Because the bank was going through hard times, he invited his two sons, Thomas junior and William, to join him in partnership at the brewery in order that they run it for him, and so leave him to concentrate on restoring bank affairs to order. The capital that they raised, partly by the brothers, and partly by £1,000 as a portion of Thomas junior's wife's property, was used to acquire the necessary shares [3].
A succession of heavy financial demands on the bank during 1847 and 1848, together with a call for £7,000 in 1850 by one of the contractors for the Brighton Railway, then in the course of construction, led to the discovery of a large deficiency at the Dorking agency. These setbacks checked the hope of a speedy recovery of past losses. Recent profits were diminished also by the outlay for new premises and other heavy expenses attendant on the death of Mr. Overton, the Dorking agent. Consequently, bankruptcy was inevitable.
In Thomas junior's letter to his father's creditors, written on the 12th March, 1851, the position was only too clearly explained, and he went to great lengths to exonerate his father from any blame attached to the bank's failure. Of his father, young Thomas had this to say:
" My father has been censured for carrying on the bank without capital; there is no substantial ground for this accusation; his private property was capital for the bank; it was made available for surmounting the crisis of 1825; it had also been resorted to on other occasions; he did not contemplate the nice distinction of joint estate and separate estate made by bankruptcy, but felt that all he possessed was equitably liable to the claims of the bank creditors; it was this consideration which made him more particular with his own family than with strangers, and elicited my consent to pay interest on a part of the valuation of my first share in the brewery, although I did, and do believe, that on paying down out of my own savings and my wife's little fortune, so large a portion of the purchase-money, it was not unreasonable to expect that I should have been assisted by a father with a gift, rather than with a loan, to complete the arrangement.
" Until the recent disasters, there never was the slightest doubt of the sufficiency of my father's property, since so seriously and grievously depreciated, to make good all the engagements of the bank without any assistance from Mr. Nash.
" The balance appearing to be due from my father has also been made the ground of censure; for 23 years he has given most unremitting attention to the concerns of the bank, incurring numerous expenses on its behalf, and has made no charge for these services; -were he periodically credited with a very moderate allowance the balance would be in his favour. Except as to two or three investments made several years ago, he has personally assumed the risk of attending the employment of the surplus funds of the bank; the bank has extensively benefited by the interest charged by him; his individual account has borne the loss, and thus his private fortune has been absorbed.
" It has been stated that he took the bank money to embark his sons in a brewery speculation, but so far from this being the case, for the express purpose of strengthening the bank by a large money payment, he sold to his sons in l843 at its extreme value the brewery property, of which he possessed the greater part before he was a banker; on the depreciation of his subsequent investments, the payment of the balance due upon this sale has made good the deficiency. My father would have disposed of the brewery in l830 but for my taking a share, and he gave only nominal attention to it afterwards, the bank engrossing all his energies; up to the day of his being taken ill, he invariably counted the money at night, every note cancelled was burnt by him, and every entry of cancellation is in his own handwriting; I am informed that the books bear, in numerous places, the marks of his scrutiny….” [4].
The letter continues at some length, unfolding the course of events that led to the closure of the bank in 1850. This closure led to the rendering penniless overnight of a great many clients, and the thought of this, coupled with great personal financial loss, led to the death of Thomas senior.
At the opening of the above letter, his son had this to say of his death: " but he had no expectation of such an attack as was then made upon him; that attack, which the suspension of his Certificate rendered more poignant, was his death blow, for on the very day, nay, the very hour appointed for delivering judgement in an earthly court, his spirit, without a sigh, without the slightest outward struggle, passed into the presence of a Heavenly Tribunal.”
I may have dwelt too much on the banking concern, but the aim in including these facts lay in an attempt to convey the character of the brewery's founder, which to all reports was impeccable to a degree. To give the reader further insight as to his just nature, there exists a story of the time that Thomas senior was censured for holding shares in an Insurance Company; in a newspaper report touching upon the subject, Mr. Nash's name was substituted; Thomas senior observed it and wrote to beg that the error might be corrected. The incident was trifling, but it proved that though persecuted himself, he was uneasy lest another should suffer.
REFERENCES
1-4. Neale Papers.
