In anticipation of the opening of the Birmingham Municipal Bank (BMB) on September 1st 1919, the Manager (J P Hilton) of its predecessor (the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank) (BCSB) wrote to all depositors with a balance exceeding One Shilling, inviting them to transfer their accounts to the new Bank. A form was provided for the depositor to indicate at which of eighteen offices they wished to have their account located. In the period up to March 1920, 13,715 accounts (with balances totalling £159,144) were transferred to Head Office branch, which was initially located in part of the Water Department in Edmund Street. Many of the transfer requests were received prior to September 1st 1919, and accordingly, the account details were entered in the branch's Personal Ledger in anticipation of that opening date. These accounts were included in the statistic that in the month of September 1919, 1,542 accounts (£44,042) were transferred from BCSB; in addition, 428 new accounts were opened during that month. Of the 21,482 accounts transferred from the BCSB to the BMB by March 31st 1920, the vast majority were transferred to Head Office branch, partly as this was the location by default where no transfer form was received.

 

Reproduced below are the First 100 Accounts - all of these were transfers from the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank, as indicated by 'OB' (Old Bank) next to the transferred balance.

Each account is annotated with the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank Account Number from which the balance was transferred, 29360 in the case of Clara Price

Frederick Hunt was the first depositor in the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank - in the BMB, he has Account Number 9

In addition to the account balance brought forward from the BCSB account, an interest value has also been transferred

As the BCSB capitalised interest half-yearly, the amount of interest transferred was for the period April 1st to September 30th 1919 ....

.... consequently, an additional value has been added to each interest column to represent the period October 1st 1919 to March 31st 1920

Account Number 35: the depositor having died, the application to close the account has been dealt with as 'Claim No. 60'

Account Number 41: Harriet Hudson may have applied to have BCSB A/c No 13709 transferred to the BMB, but closed her account prior to September 1st 1919

Account Number 52: one of the Bank's first Home Safes was issued to John Mills - the safe was delivered from the manufacturer on January 3rd 1923

Account Number 63: it appears that a clerical error has resulted in the balance transferred being incorrectly entered as £10. 0. 4d. and then corrected by 'painting'

(ie overwriting or adapting the wrong figure) - a practice generally discouraged. The correct amount has been confirmed in red ink