Sir George Nicholls (1781 - 1865) was a British Poor Law Commissioner after the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act. He had been an Overseer of the Poor under the old system of poor relief. In November 1826 he accepted the appointment of superintendent of the branch of the Bank of England which was then first established at Birmingham. He moved to Birmingham in December 1826, and (except for three or four years, during which he lived at the Friary, Handsworth) he resided with his family on the bank premises. His life at Birmingham was a very active one. He found time for many things besides his official duties and was involved in the establishment of the Birmingham Savings Bank. He was an active town commissioner and a working member of the committee of the Birmingham General Hospital. In January 1851 he retired from office, through ill-health, and was given the title of KCB in March 1851. BSB Auditor 1827 - 1833
Charles Geach (1808 – 1854) served as the Bank's Accountant for over twenty years and was probably the person (together with William Bolton, the Secretary) mainly responsible for the Birmingham Savings Bank being considered the best managed savings bank in the country, due to his extensive banking and commercial background which included a major involvement in the establishment of the Birmingham and Midland Bank in 1836 - the forerunner of the Midland Bank. He was a member of the BSB's Committee of Management (1852 - 1853) and Vice-President in 1853. Geach become a prominent Midlands figure, was elected an Alderman in Birmingham 1843 - 1844 and Mayor in 1847, and was elected to Parliament as MP for Coventry in 1851, whereupon he resigned as General Manager of the Midland Bank.
Joseph Frederick Ledsam (1791 - 1862) was a Birmingham industrialist who patented a process for cleansing gas and thus reducing the smell. He was Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Warwick and, High Sheriff of Worcestershire. He was a major landlord who owned a large part of Selly Oak (he was known as the 'Lord of Selly Oak') including the ruins of Weoley Castle. Ledsam was the major benefactor in the building of St Mary's Church in Selly Oak, a major investor in railways, and he was a director of the Birmingham Banking Company. J F Ledsam acted as one of the BSB's Auditors from its inception until his death. BSB Auditor 1827 - 1861
Samuel Beale (1803 - 1874). Glass and lead merchant in his early years. Founder of Birmingham & Midland (later Midland) Bank (1836). Third Mayor of Birmingham (1841). Chairman of Midland Railways (1844 - 64). Magistrate (1849). MP for Derby, 1857 - 65. BSB Chairman 1841; Committee of Management 1841, 1843/44, 1846 - 1855; Auditor 1845 - 1855
William Scholefield (1809 - 1867) was born in Birmingham and was a politician during the rapid growth of the town in the mid-19th-Century. The government of the town in 1837 was in the hands of a manorial court leet, presided over by a High Bailiff, who at that time was William Scholefield. In 1838 Birmingham was created a municipal borough and Scholefield was chosen as the first Mayor. BSB: Vice-President 1853 - 1862; Chairman 1837 & 1854; Committee of Management 1837/38. Son of Joshua Scholefield.
Joshua Scholefield (1775 - 1844). A businessman and politician. He was elected as one of Birmingham's first two members of parliament when the town was enfranchised as a result of the Reform Act of 1832. Director of the National Provincial Bank and the London Joint Stock Bank. High Bailiff of Birmingham (1819). Chaired a meeting of Birmingham's businessmen in January 1820 that resolved to petition parliament to hold an inquiry into the "deplorable situation of the Manufacturing and Labouring classes of the Community and of this Town in particular; and the distressing situation to which Manufactures and Commerce are reduced". MP for Birmingham 1832 - 1844. Father of William Scholefield. BSB Trustee & Manager 1841 - 1844
Richard Spooner (1783 – 1864). British businessman and politician born at Birches Green, Erdington, and the son of Isaac Spooner, a banker and magistrate in Birmingham. He was involved in the civic life of Birmingham, helping to found the Mechanics Institute in 1820, of which he was the first president. First Tory MP for Birmingham (1844 - 1847). MP for North Warwickshire (1847 - 1864). BSB Trustee & Manager 1841 - 1848
Abel Peyton (1799 - 1877) Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers; resided at 'Oakhurst', Church Road, Edgbaston; BSB: Chairman 1861; Committee of Management 1857 - 1862; Auditor 1856 - 1862
William Lucy. 11th Mayor of Birmingham 1849/1850. BSB: Chairman 1853 & 1849; Committee of Management 1849 - 1862
John T Lawrence. Magistrate. BSB Committee of Management 1832 - 1848
Henry Smith. 7th Mayor of Birmingham 1845. BSB Committee of Management 1839 - 1859
James James. 4th Mayor of Birmingham 1842. BSB Chairman 1842
Sir John Ratcliff (1798 - 1864). Mayor of Birmingham (1856 - 1858). Knighted 1858. BSB Chairman 1857; Trustee & Manager 1857 - 1863
William Stratford Dugdale (1800 - 1871). Deputy Lieutenant of Warwickshire; MP for North Warwickshire 1832 - 1847. BSB Vice-President 1840 - 1852
The Honourable & Reverend Grantham Munton Yorke, DD. (1809 -1879), Prebendary of Lichfield, Rector of St Philip's Birmingham (1844 - 1874). BSB Trustee & Manager 1844 - 1862
Rev Patrick Murray Smythe, MA. Rector of Solihull 1847 - 1872. BSB Chairman 1855
ADDITIONALLY, the following gentleman was mentioned in the Bank's Annual Reports:
John Tidd Pratt (1797 - 1870) was admitted a student at the
Inner Temple in 1819, and was called to the bar in 1824. From 1828 to his death he was consulting barrister to the National Debt
Commissioners, and was responsible for certifying the rules of savings banks and friendly societies from 1834 to 1846, and Registrar
of Friendly Societies from 1846 to his death.
- The Law relating
to Savings Banks in England and Ireland, (1828)
- A Summary of the Savings Banks in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, (1846)
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The History of Savings Banks In England, Wales,and Ireland, (1830)