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Samuel South(1) 1853-1919

The bank passbook of Samuel South(1) for the years 1886-1892 has survived and an initial analysis of the entries has produced the following comments.

Samuel South(1) - Bank Passbook

There has been the opportunity to carry out an initial study of the Bank passbook of Samuel(1) mentioned in Update No 10. The account was held with the London & Provincial Bank Ltd, later absorbed by Barclays, and the passbook, similar to a bank statement, records each deposit made (amount only) and each cheque drawn (amount and payee) for the period June 1886 - Sept 1892. All but 9 of the 360 deposit entries are for cash receipts thus demonstrating the need for the protection employed by Samuel(2) when collecting monies due from customers and described in Update No 13.

At present, the date of the move of the pottery from Dysons Road to White Hart Lane, suggested as 1886, has been unsubstantiated. There has been a gap between the 1881 census and the 1888 rating valuation at which time Samuel(1) is shown as occupying the "brick ground" and house (Tentdale) in White Hart Lane. The passbook lends support that the 1886 date is correct because:

  • the account is used for business transactions, for example, payments to Rickett (Coal Merchant), Boulton (Engineers), Bounds Green Pottery etc.

  • the volume and value of the receipts and payments are far in excess of those anticipated for the Dysons Road pottery that in 1881 employed "two men and three boys".

  • the passbook opens with a cash deposit of £98 in June 1886 and not the transfer of an existing balance indicating that it was a new account, perhaps, opened because of the new venture.

  • the first three payments, totalling £55, were made to Sankey, the previous occupier of the site, and it can be speculated that such payments were for equipment etc.

Accepting 1886 as the date that the business moved to White Hart Lane and that the receipts are the proceeds of the business then there was a dramatic three-fold increase in turnover between 1887 - 1892 (projected) as shown in the following table:                              

Year

Deposits

Equivalent 1998

1886 (June-December)

£272

£17397

1887

£1028

£64034

1888

£1958

£122638

1889

£2259

£141688

1890

£2270

£142575

1891

£2912

£173513

1892 (Jan.-September)

£2698

£160761

1892 (Projected pro-rata)

£3597

£214894

The results are even more impressive when considering that Sankey withdrew because he was unable to make the Pottery a paying proposition. The income was likely to have been more than recorded because cash received could be used to pay bills without passing through the account. The investment of £22-5s-0d (1998-£930) by Samuel(1) when he bought the Dysons Road pottery from his father, Joseph(1), in 1874 was proving a success. 

(1998 equivalent using "Value of the Pound version 2.0" Drake Software Associates)

KLB 2/00

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