Another glass of champagne? I don’t mind if I do!

 The Bank Chairman and HM the Queen Mother

 

Once upon a time … I must start this article with these words: Once upon a time, because I have no hard facts to put forward in its support.  However, I have worked with, and talked with, many people in Barclays Bank’s Head Office when I worked there and when I was in one or two of the Bank’s Societies and was able to piece this story together from conversations with various fellow staff members.

This all happened in the 1960s and 1970s.  The world was quite different then and Barclays Bank Limited (as it then was) was run and managed actively by the Chairman and the Directors; many of whom would have been family members of some of the banks that had been absorbed into the Barclays Group over the years.
 
To give you a bit of a flavour of what it was like at the time in Barclays Bank Head Office, one of my colleagues from a while back told me that, on a Friday, it was always possible to see which directors were going to the country for the weekend as they would be the ones wearing tweed suits to work.
 
Sir John Thomson joined the Bank in 1929 and was made a director in 1947, serving as deputy Chairman then Chairman from 1958 to 1973.  He was a member of one of the families that owned Parsons, Thomson and Co which became part of the Barclays group in 1900. 
 
One day, Sir John “looked in” to the Arts Council office to see Miss Joan Saunders, the Hon Secretary, on her knees bashing tacks into the upholstery for a footstool for some play or other, whilst Jean her assistant (later my wife) was endeavouring to create a parasol out of an old umbrella frame and some yellow satin.  He seemed amused, he could take anything in his stride.
 

Sir John was a man who was very keen on horse-racing and would often go to the races.  Being a member of the establishment, Sir John would usually watch from the Royal Enclosure and was, as likely as not, to encounter the Queen Mother there.  They were both very knowledgeable in equine matters, would compare the horses they were examining and make bets together.  The wager, I had been told, was usually a case of champagne.  After the race had ended, their secretaries would make arrangements to settle the wager.  If Sir John had lost, then the arrangement would be for the Queen Mother to visit the Bank’s Head Office at 54 Lombard Street to “collect her winnings”. 

On the appointed day, the Queen Mother and her retinue would arrive at the Golden Gates of 54 Lombard Street and would be whisked smoothly to the Boardroom on the seventh floor.  Very few staff saw her arrive, but everybody knew when she was in the building.  The Queen Mother would be greeted in the Board Room by Sir John and the Directors, champagne corks would be popped and all present would enjoy a most convivial occasion.  When the Queen Mother was ready to return home, I do hope that somebody would place the case and any unopened bottles in the boot of her car before she returned to Clarence House.

Interestingly, whilst Sir John was having drinks at Clarence House one day, he was very impressed indeed by their champagne glasses.  When he asked where they came from, he got a rather evasive response.

When he returned to 54 Lombard Street, he despatched two of the young men from his office to scour the royal jewellers around the West End to track down the glasses.  They started off very unsuccessfully, but, eventually, they tracked the champagne glasses down – to FW Woolworth’s. 

That’s the Wonder of Woolies!

Recommended reading:

 

The Barclays Bank Group Archives is an absolute treasure trove of useful information; please follow this link:

https://www.archive.barclays.com/

Barclays Group Archives picture ref 33/792

Sir John Thomson at the races accompanied by his lady wife, with his horse Proud Tarquin, who won a number of major steeplechase races, including the Champion Novices' Chase at Cheltenham and the Guinness Handicap Chase at Leopardstown.  I am exceedingly grateful to Barclays Group Archives for letting me have this lovely photograph and allowing me to publish it here.