Lives of the First World War

Image from Barclays Bank Book of Remembrance - World War One. Completed in April 1959, with parchment pages, the book was decorated and gilded by Dorothy Hutton.

After WW2 it was decided that the permanent official Barclays Bank memorial should be an illuminated inscribed book of remembrance, one for each war. Originally put on display in a purpose-built wall case at 54 Lombard Street, the books were then put on display in the new head office building in the 1990s, and when the head office moved in 2005 to 1 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, the books were put on display in cases there. The WW1 book lists members of staff who lost their lives serving in the armed forces, separated into Barclays Bank, London and South Western Bank, and London and Provincial Bank. The book has parchment pages, with leather binding, engrossed, decorated and gilded by Dorothy Hutton, and bound by Sydney M Cockerell, and includes illustrations of head offices and coats of arms of the three banks. The image shows the page of the WW1 book which features this person’s name as an employee of Barclays Bank Limited.

Image of the original design for a Barclays Bank colour printed WW1 roll of honour. Reproduced in monochrome in “History of Barclays Bank Limited”, P W Matthews & A W Tuke, 1926, page 396.

Image of the original Barclays Bank WW1 memorial panel formerly in the Great Hall at 54 Lombard Street. Published in Spread Eagle (the staff magazine of Barclays Bank), volume 26 (1951), page 461

At least a few of Barclays’ local head offices had their own Rolls of Honour (with just the names of men from their Barclays district) designed and printed for framed display, and Pall Mall East branch even had its own metal tablets made. The two bronze memorial tablets, one for each war, that were formerly on display at the Pall Mall East branch are now in the safe-keeping of Barclays Group Archives.