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Samuel Smith & Co (Newark)

Samuel Smith & Co (c.1801-1902), established in Newark, was a past constituent of NatWest.

Brief history

This private bank was established in about 1801 as J S Godfrey, by John S Godfrey, a local attorney, previously agent to Smith, Ellison & Co, bankers of Lincoln. The firm was styled Welby, Godfrey & Lawrence in 1801, after Thomas Earle Welby, a banker of Grantham and Leicester, joined the partnership. The bank was known as Godfrey & Co from 1815; Godfrey, Hutton & Godfrey from 1826; and Godfrey & Hutton by 1846. The bank issued its own notes and the mainstay of its business was the accounts of several large maltsters and brewers.

In 1880, when known as Godfrey & Riddell, the bank was acquired by Samuel Smith & Co bankers of Nottingham, but continued to operate independently as Samuel Smith & Co until 1902. In 1902 it joined with the other Smith family banks in merging with Union Bank of London Ltd of London, to form Union of London & Smiths Bank Ltd.

Detailed list of name changes

  • J S Godfrey from c.1801
  • Welby & Co by 1806
  • Welby, Godfrey, Lawrence & Handley in 1809
  • Welby, Godfrey & Lawrence in 1810
  • Godfrey & Co from 1815
  • Godfrey, Hutton & Godfrey from 1826
  • Godfrey & Hutton by 1846
  • Godfrey & Riddell by 1880

Also known as Newark Bank.

Published history

  • JASL Leighton-Boyce, Smiths the bankers 1658-1958 (London: privately published by National Provincial Bank, 1958)

Summary of our archive holdings

Our archival records of Samuel Smith & Co, Newark, have the reference code SSW.

  • banknotes 1823-9, 1900
  • cheque 19th cent.
  • balance sheet 1902

Summary of archive holdings elsewhere