improving morale at the bank of england --10/14/25

14 Oct 2025

improving morale at the bank of england --10/14/25

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Today's selection-- from Till Time's Last Sand by David Kyanston. In the early 1900s, the employees of the Bank of England, the most venerated and powerful institution in all of Britain, were unhappy. The Bank tied to address this in part by providing an eighteen-acre staff sports club:

“[The employees of the Bank of England sent] a memorandum, 'respect fully addressed to the Governor and Directors of the Bank of England by the staff of the same', demanding the establishment of a standing committee of directors and staff, on the grounds that 'in no other way does it seem possible that difficulties can be brought to light and alleged grievances ventilated'. The deputy governor was unsympathetic — Norman in his diary calling it a 'Grumblers Meeting' — but the Court as a whole responded by appointing a Special Committee on Grievances.

“Over the next few months it heard many grumbles. No doubt there was a self-selecting and not necessarily representative element to those who spoke up; but cumulatively the eloquent evidence was of a far from happy workforce:

“I am of opinion that the men who were promoted on the Stock side last October were very largely in one particular clique and that undue influence was exercised. (William Challis, 1st-class clerk in the Dividend Accounts Office) I was eleven years in the 4th-Class, which was most disheartening, and I thought that once I got out of that Class things couldn't be worse; I have, however, been 13 years in the 2nd Class and I am still there. I am nearly 54 ... I believe my case is the worst in the Bank. (Henry Onyon, 2nd-class clerk in the Dividend Pay Office)

“I may say that there are many men who would like to come before you but are afraid to do so, partly because they are not sure what their reception will be, and partly because they fear that a black mark would be put against them. (Frederick Rumsey, supernumerary 2nd-class clerk in the Dividend Pay Office)

“Since I was demobilised on the 12th December last, my average time of leaving on Saturday has been 3 o'clock ... I used to play Rugby football and often I did not arrive on the field until half-time. (Arthur J. F. Bond, 4th-class clerk in the Private Drawing Office)

“May I say that I am loath to be thought a man with a grievance ... I think the Class system works unfairly in that men have to depend largely on chance for their promotion. If promotion is stagnant at the head of an office it means that through no fault of their own the men in the office are kept back. (Wilfrid M. Acres, 1st-class clerk in the Branch Banks Office and future historian of the Bank)

“I may say that I came into the Bank in 1882 and since then I have not spoken to a Governor or Director. (Henry H. Lempriere, Ist-class clerk in the Dividend Pay Office)

“A man never knows his character in the Bank. If a man wants to know his character he has to ask his Principal, who may or may not tell him. Any secret system is liable to abuse, as it places the Principal in an autocratic position ... (James R. Sugars, 3rd-class clerk in the Accountant's Bank Note Office)

“I have to work late on every possible occasion in order that I may be able to give my family the bare necessities of life ... The Bank have always been particular as to the type of men they elect into the Service; they come from decent homes and have the habits and tastes of gentlemen and I think the Bank should put them in the position to gratify those tastes. (Cuthbert Pearce, 4th-class clerk in the Dividend Accounts Office, aged twenty-nine and married with small twins, on a basic salary of £290)

“We don't want the Bank run on the lines of a factory and we fully appreciate the benefits we enjoy in the Service. We don't expect anything unreasonable. We don't want to be paid double for half the work or anything of that sort. But if the Staff are treated with sympathy and consideration you need have no doubt whatever that they would respond to that treatment ... If the Authorities will endeavour, when considering problems connected with the Staff, to put themselves in our places and think what they would feel if they were in our position they need have no fear as to the result, nor need the Staff. (James Harrison, 4th-class clerk in the Private Drawing Office)

“Reassured by what Bryant described as 'the extreme repugnance among our men to have anything to do with Trade Unions', the Court in July set up an Advisory Council of Directors and Staff. The Bank would remain for a long time a decidedly hierarchical organisation; but the old days of seemingly arbitrary autocratic rule had gone for ever.

“The end of autocracy did not mean the end of paternalism – far from it. Even before the war, in 1908, the Bank had provided the eighteen-acre ground (off Priory Lane in Roehampton) for a staff sports club; and in July 1919— only months after the 'Grumblers Committee' and amid rising industrial tension in the country at large — the visiting Ben Strong, following lunch at governor Cokayne's Roehampton home, went on to the 'field day' at the nearby Sports Club:

“They have a cricket field, bowling greens, tennis courts, etc, all in beautiful order and in every way a desirable adjunct to the Bank. There were nearly 6,000, each man taking some lady friend and each of the girls in the Bank taking some man. The entertainment consisted of cricket games, tennis, bowling, a band concert and dancing in a big open air tent. I was very greatly impressed with the general appearance of the people, resembling in many respects the type which we employ in New York. A number of the directors of the Bank were there with their families, and, as in America, the dancing proved a great attraction.”