Thomas Smith

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: 1688, Nottinghamshire, England; In 1658 he bought premises at the corner of Peck Lane, where he was a mercer (cloth merchant). Sometime after this he began to offer banking services to his customers. It was the first private bank outside London and is the origin of the oldest country Banking House in England. The precise date of the establishment of Smith's Bank is not clear, but it was about 1688. Twelve years after the foundation of the bank Thomas Smith died. He married twice, first to Mary, daughter of John Hooper, of Somerset; and secondly to the daughter of Lawrence Collin of Nottingham. During his lifetime he amassed a large fortune, and he died in 1699 in possession of much landed property. His eldest son, Thomas, succeeded him in the banking business. A plaque outside the Natwest Bank branch on the east side of South Parade, Nottingham announces that Smith's bank stood near this site. The Smith family quit the business in 1902 when a merger formed the Union of London and Smith's bank. This then became the National Provincial Bank in 1918, and then the National Westminster Bank in 1969.

Family/Spouse: Mary Hooper. Mary was born in 1648 in Gaddesby, Leicestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Anne Smith was born in 1692 in Nottinghamshire, England; died in 1762.