Welcome to my website - which is currently under construction. 

On this site, I hope to list a number of letters from my collection as these may be of interest to others.

Over the years my collecting interests have been many and varied although one of my main interests relates to Letters to and from Scottish Banks for the period up to 31st December 1899.  This arose partly as a consequence of my interest on Scottish Banknotes and an early acceptance that I could not afford to purchase 19th Century banknotes but could acquire the same signatures of the Cashiers, Managers, etc. by purchasing letters.

Whilst many of the letters can be routine inter or intra bank correspondence regarding daily transactions a number also contain much by the way of social or historical interest.  Additionally letters to and from customers can give an insight to economic conditions - not as dry as it sounds! - and sometimes links to history.

I have also tried to include information on the Banks, the people and the activities referred to the the letters and to link these ~ where possible ~ to the events of the time.  Within the collection there are a couple of areas or topics with a greater concentration of material with this reflective of my general interests or simply collections or items that became available to me.   These topics include

• Scottish Banknotes,
  
• The printing of Banknotes,
• The East Lothian Banking Company,
• The Paisley Union Banking Company, and
• Anything linking to Forgeries, Robbery, Crime or Fraud - always and interesting topic in any age.
  

The website is not intended to be an academic work and any reference to research must be considered in its very loosest format.  The letters shown are all from my personal collection (unless otherwise stated) and the supporting information is obtained from a number of books owned, various websites over which I have stumbled or from sources now long forgotten.

I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who may be able to provide further information, correct inaccuracies or who may have material which may be of interest to me. 

I also have an interest in family history although unfortunately none of my family members have any links to these letters.  If you are fortunate enough to have a family link and would like to provide or obtain further information, again I would be pleased to hear from you.

Bob Teevan

27th March 2008

Update ~ 9th April 2009.  After an initial flurry of activity my time in 2008 became very limited although in 2009 I hope to return to adding items to the website.

Update - 21st March 2010.  Well another full year has almost gone - with very little by way of updating on the site.  It has been an extremely busy couple of years in banking and we have almost seen the two largest banks disappear!  Over the last 12 months I have continued to stumble across interesting letters for my collection and website although have had very little time available to me to research these and update the site.  Recent additions to my collection which are awaiting research include the following.

1782 - Two letters from Sampson Coysgarne Lloyd to Walter Hog of the British Linen Company.  Lloyd was born in Bristol; was the son of  a Rotterdam Merchant (Cornelius Lloyd) and was the owner of the Halbeath Colliery in Fife.  This colliery was one of the first to use railtracks for the transportation of coal.  The letter / the individual can be linked to Carron; Dr John Roebuck and much more, including - although not yet fully researched / linked - the Lloyds banking family.

1791 - A letter from George Dempster, Dundee to Robert Scott Moncreiff in Glasgow.  Dempster was a well known Scottish MP and also founder to the Dundee Banking Company.  Scott Moncrieff was an Edinburgh Merchant and also the first agent (along with David Dale) for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Glasgow.  Scott Moncrieff was also a trustee for the private banking company of Thomson & Co. when in failed about 1814.  The letetr makes reference to David Dale and Sir Richard Arkwright.

1809 - A letter from Gilbert Meason, Edinburgh to Samuel Anderson, Banker, Edinburgh.  In 1778 Meason purchased the second Watt engine to work in Scotland for his mine interests at Wanlockhead.  Meason was known to James Watt and was a supporter of William Symington.

1811 - A letter from Alexander Pitcairn of the Commercial Bank of Scotland to Christopher Middlemass.  Pitcairn was a Merchant and founding partner of the Commercial Bank of Scotland whilst Middlemass was a founding partner within the East Lothian Banking Company.  Both banks were established in 1810.  The letter refers to the availability of paper for the printing of banknotes and includes Pitcairn's opinion of the banknotes of the Commercial Bank of Scotland.

So many things to do...so little time to do them.