(Front and back of postal card addressed to the Bank of Hamilton from the Ontario Bank, Guelph branch, on 25 April 1876. Pencil notes on the back are due to an earlier collector.)
This very quotitidan postcard conveys a very quotidian messsage:
Ontario Bank, Guelph, Ont. 25 Apr, 1876
I have received your letter of the 22nd inst. with enclosing … Manager.
This sort of card, sometimes known as a "postal card," was often used for business correspondance in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. As this Ontario Bank "postal" illustrates, they could be printed as form cards, useful for quick acknowledegement of correspondence, cheques, or goods received. Addressees could then keep these postals in their books as a record that a transaction had been completed, an important bookkeeping function for a commercial enterprise.
Undoubtedly, the most interesting bit of this postal is the loopy signature. I believe it is the signature of Edmund Morris, who was the manager of the Ontario Bank Branch in Guelph in the 1870s. The signature begins with an "E" consisting of two upper loops themselves encompassed by a loop that seems to transition into a capital "M" followed by a "orris" in a peaky scrawl.
As Stephen Thorning explains, the banking system of Ontario was substantially different in the early days of the province than it is today. The Province chartered a small set of "offical" banks that were subject to the regulations of the banking act. These big banks concentrated in the big cities such as Toronto. Branches were located in a few, second-tier locations, such as Guelph, but small cities and towns were mostly served by regional or private banks. A private bank was typically a local man or two who had deep pockets or perhaps good credit with a big bank that would loan him money that he could then re-loan to the locals or invest on his own account. Regional and private banks effectively functioned as bank branches do today, and also allowed the chartered banks to apply their money by proxy in ways that weren't strictly allowed by the rules.
(The most notorious private bank in Guelph was the aptly named Guelph Bank, owned by W.H. Cutten— the father of "Wheat King" Arthur Cutten—though that is a story for another occasion.)
The Ontario Bank actually preceeded confederation, being set up in 1857 in Bowmanville with the object of serving the banking needs of farmers and other rural businesses on Ontario and Durham Counties (thus the name). By 1862, the Ontario Bank had expanded to a number of other locations such as Guelph. At that time, the city directory lists its location as the Market Square (Carden street) and its employees as:
Alexander Fisher, manager
G.H.G. McVity, accountant
P.H. Gibbs, teller
Alex Fisher was born at Scotsburn, near Tain in Rosshire, Scotland, in 1817 and immigrated to Canada with his father John in 1832 (Globe, 20 April 1882). He began his business career with the Bank of Upper Canada (as Ontario was known before 1841) but later joined the Bank of Ontario. He was (apparently) the first manager of the Guelph branch but then left to manage the Toronto branch in 1864. There he remained until his death by suicide in 1882, brought on by ill health.
("Group in garden," ca. 1870. Edmund Morris is standing in the back row, right-hand side, wearing a straw boater. Courtesy of Guelph Civic Museums, 1975.21.187.)
Fisher was succeeded as manager by Edmund Morris, whose signature adorns the postcard above. On Morris's watch, the Guelph branch of the Ontario Bank seems to have done well. In 1887, the Guelph branch took over the accounts of the Central Bank, a regional bank that had finally succumbed to bad loans made to brokers and speculators. However, the Central Bank had a snazzy office on Quebec street, to which Morris moved his branch ASAP.
For reasons not entirely clear, the Ontario Bank closed its Guelph branch in 1890. The accounts—and nifty offices—were taken over by the Traders Bank. Edmund Morris was presented with a gold watch and chain by some of the Royal City's leading citizens in gratitude for his many years of service. He relocated to Toronto, where he moved up to the position of Inspector in the Ontario Bank's main office in the Queen City.
One possible reason for the move was a set of "defalcations." Some accountants with Ontario Bank in Toronto were found to have embezzeled a substantial amount of money from the bank, perhaps prompting it to rationalize its liabilities (Mercury, 28 January 1890).
Edmund Morris died in his Spadina residence in 1899 (Globe, 18 December 1899).
The Ontario Bank folded up its tent in 1906. The end was brought about by Charles McGill, the general manager, who attempted to expand the bank's assets through unwise stock market speculation, though McGill insisted they were "investments" (Toronto World, 13 October 1906). Rather than allow the bank to simply collapse, and perhaps start a general panic, the Bank of Montreal took over its affairs and made good its deposits.
News reports concerning the Ontario Bank in Guelph give us glimpses into the operations and challenges of running small town banks in the late Victorian era. For example, the Acton Free Press (16 November 1877) reports that people had been presenting counterfeit ten dollar bills issued by the Ontario Bank to branches in Guelph as well as other Ontario cities. Trying to pass "funny money" was a serious issue.
(Ontario Bank $10 bill, engraved date 1 June 1888. Courtesy of the Bank of Canada Museum, Object ID: 1972.0231.00001.000.)
This notice is a reminder that, between 1871 and 1944, chartered banks were authorized under Canadian law to issue their own currency for circulation. Today, the only cash that most Canadians carry is issued by the Bank of Canada but it wasn't always so. Of course, any bank that issues currency has to protect against fraud, which applied to the Guelph branch, as this example illustrates.
In 1880, a scandal resulted when a local businessman tried to abscond with funds that belonged to the Ontario Bank in Guelph (Globe, 10 December). Mr. J.E. Merlihan, a prominent Clifton businessman, had bought a large amount of wool earlier in the year and stored it in a Guelph warehouse on credit obtained from the Ontario Bank. His plan was to wait until the wool price increased so he could sell it at a profit. This happened and Merlihan sold the wool to Winans & Co. of Toronto, who issued him a cheque for $7,000. Merlihan cashed the cheque at the Federal Bank in Guelph. It was quickly noticed at the Ontario Bank that Merlihan did not appear to make good his debt to them:
In the afternoon the Manager of the Ontario Bank found out that Merlihan had got the draft and as they held the warehouse receipt he wondered why Merlihan had not brought the money to the bank as he should have done.
Why indeed?
On making enquiries he soon learned that Merlihan had driven to Hespeler, the first station south of here; and suspecting that he would take the first train there for Suspension Bridge, telegraphed the Chief of Police at Clifton, and his arrest followed, $6,960 and a ticket for Buffalo being found on his person.
It seems that Merlihan had reckoned without the social network of local bankers.
As Stephen Thorning points out, the turn of the century saw consolidation of Canadian banks. Big banks had worked out how to run branches in smaller centres and still make money. Potential employees gravitated to the big banks because they could offer career growth in the form of promotions and higher salaries. Local banks were just a few people in size and were not apt to grow. In addition, smaller banks like the Ontario Bank sometimes got into financial trouble and Ontarians took a dim view of the prospect that they might one day open their newspapers to read that their bank had gone under, taking most if not all their money with it. Banks got fewer and bigger and assumed more of the form that is familiar to Ontarians today.
The departure of the Ontario Bank from Guelph in 1890 was a sign of things to come.
Works consulted for this post include:
Thorning, S. (1994). "Private banking in Wellington County." Wellington County Historical Society, v. 7, pp. 48–70.
Sharp-eyed readers may have noted the absence of images of the Ontario Bank premises. I have noticed this also! Nothing of any quality has come to my attention. If you, dear reader, can supply the deficit, please let me know!
