Barclays Bank was founded in 1896, but its precursors date back as far as April 1690, when 21 year old John Freame completed his seven year apprenticeship and became a freeman of the city of London. He setup goldsmith with partner in Lombard Street.
The Barclays name became connected to the business when the bankers John Freame and Thomas Gould joined forces with Freame’s son in law John Barclay in 1736.
This private partnership lasted until 1896. Then David Barclay, sixth generation of descendent of John Freame, made new limited company Barclay Co., forerunner of today’s Barclays Bank Plc.
At the start of the 21st century Barclays, along with Lloyds, is one of the remaining Big Five English banks that previously dominated the City.
Barclays was first represented in the USA though the Colonial Bank which opened an office in Wall Street in 1890.
In the 1890s, Barclays Bank opened its Cairo branch to process the financial transactions relating to the construction of the Suez Canal. The banks are considered to be the first commercial banks established in the Muslim world.
In the post Second World War years there was a proposal for the merger of Barclays Bank and Lloyds bank, but this was not recommended by the Monopolies Commission.
At that time it would have been the biggest bank in the world and certainly would have dominated UK banking.
In 1971 the bank became known as Barclays Bank International to reflect the change in emphasis to worldwide banking, and representation outside the Commonwealth increased.
History of Barclays Bank
