An account of banking history

LIVERPOOL once had many family-owned banks, the numbers growing as the port grew and prospered while trade expanded.

- Stephen Guy

The earliest records appear in the 1774 town directory listing one William Clarke, banker and draper, 34 Castle Street, and C Caldwell & Co, banker's office, 37 Paradise Street.

Liverpool's commercial needs at this time reflected its comparatively small size. My ancestor, Peter Guy, was its only postman from about 1769 to 1775.

In 1773, the average ship's size was just 110 tons, yet these tiny vessels embarked on round trips of up to a year away from Liverpool.

The fashionable shops were in Redcross Street and Castle Street, then much narrower than today.

Lord Street was also very narrow until bring widened in 1826. Church Street was entirely residential before 1800. North of Tithebarn Street was open countryside.