Commercial London in 1900: The Bankers' Clearing House

Arthur H. Beavan described the functions of the Bankers' Clearing House, in Imperial London, published in 1901:

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Situated in Post Office Court between Lombard Street and King William Street, in a plain good-sized ground-floor room fitted with a number of common desks, was the Bankers' Clearing House, insignificant in appearance, but overpowering in the figures it dealt with, its daily returns ranging from 16 to 70 million pounds sterling, in the year 1900.

It employed no special staff; the work was done by the representatives of the various Banks, known as "clearing clerks."

The number of cheques passed daily was from 70 to 100,000.

Simple enough was the process of clearing these cheques.

In effect, one clerk said to another, "Here, I have got £86,500 on your Bank, and you have got £90,000 on mine.

Let us note down the amounts, then give me the cheque you hold, and take mine; we will go back to our offices to see that the cheques are all right, and then we will meet again in half-an-hour, and I will pay you £3500, which is the difference between your claims on my house and mine on yours."

This saved considerable time, labour, and responsibility involved in carrying large sums of money to and fro.

The Clearing House was established by several of the leading Banking firms for their own special convenience, but others had since been admitted.

A Bank was not by any means admitted as a matter of course to the Clearing House; the nature of its operations made a certain amount of confidence necessary, and the breaking of a Bank might upset all its arrangements.

Next: Mercantile London in 1900: Bank Fraud