In 1804 Samuel Galton and Samuel Tertius Galton, together with partner Joseph Gibbins, founded a private bank with its credit based primarily on the fortune and reputation that the Galtons had built up through their established gun making business.
In August 1806, the initial partnership reformed as Galtons and Co. In 1812 they were joined by partner Paul James and the firm was then restyled Galton and James.
In 1825 a general panic in the money market put a severe strain on Galton and James. The experience prompted Samuel Tertius Galton to gradually close the bank. In 1829, Paul James left to become a manager in the Birmingham Banking Company, and Galton and James was dissolved in 1831, with the Galtons retiring into private life. The Birmingham Banking Company was acquired by Midland Bank in 1914.
Recent research has deepened our knowledge of the historical links of some predecessor banks to the transatlantic trade in enslaved people. We have not been able to confirm whether Galton and James was a predecessor of Midland Bank. There appear to be no references to an acquisition by Birmingham Banking Company, and it is unclear whether Mr James moved any business with him. However, we disclose the potential connection in the interests of transparency.
The Galton family had links with the transatlantic trade in enslaved people (often referred to as transatlantic slavery) via the firm of Samuel Galton and Son, which sold guns to merchants involved in the triangular slave trade in London, Bristol and Liverpool and was also part owner in the ship Africa’s voyage from Bristol in 1774-75. The family did have links with the abolition movement, but these associations are overshadowed by the family firm’s profit from the trade in enslaved people.
