Unless I am going totally and absolutely dippy, I was sure that the Royal Bank of Scotland was located in Royal Exchange Square in the 1940s as I know that I would deliver mail there for the solicitor for whom I worked as a wee office lassie. The following backs up my memories, thank goodness. ::: In 1954 Stirling's Library removed once again, to the Royal Exchange on Queen Street. It was moved back to Miller Street in 1994 to allow for the building's conversion into the Gallery of Modern Art. The library returned to the basement of the Royal Exchange building (previously occupied by the Commercial Library) as the Library at GOMA in 2002 ::: http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSA00860 When I returned home for a visit years later I discovered that the Royal Bank of Scotland had, in between times, latterly been 'displaced' by the GoMA (Modern Art Museum). I have an account with the Royal Bank of Scotland, now in the Gordon Street branch, Glasgow. I should add that the RBS h.q. in Edinburgh threatened to move to London in the event of a YES vote to split Scotland from the rest of the U.K. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Bank_of_Scotland -----Original Message----- From: Ken Mathieson via Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 5:24 PM To: lanark@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Lanark] Some of Lost Glasgow Hi Maisie and List, Royal Bank wasn't in the building now housing GPMA in the middle of Royal Exchange Sq. Since at least the 1950s (perhaps earleir) to the 1980s that building was occupied by the Stirling Library at ground level and the Commercial Library in the basement. During that period the library was run by the City Council's Libraries. In the 1980's the basement was occupied by Arts organisations like Mayfest and the Jazz Festival. The Royal Bank fronted on to Buchanan Street with a rear entrance in the colonnaded facade looking on to Royal Exchange Square. In the 1960s (possibly earlier too) the rear entrance was the security entrance for the bank's large-scale cash movements in and out of the building, so public access was from Buchanan Street. Somewhere online there will be a history of these buildings. I'm nearly sure the GOMA building started life as a merchant's very grand house, but it's late here now, so that research will have to wait for another day. Ken

> I should add that the RBS h.q. in Edinburgh threatened to > move to London in the event of a YES vote to split Scotland > from the rest of > the U.K. True. But Wikipedia doesn't have the full story. Quite apart from the fact that since the UK government bailed out RBoS, and now actually owns most of the shares of RBoS, EU legislation requires a bank has to have its HQ in the country where it does most business. The RBoS owns the National Westminster Bank, which was actually bigger than RBoS at the time of the takeover, and consequently does more business in England and Wales than it does in Scotland. Therefore if the UK were to break up, RBoS would have no choice but to move its HQ south. The Band of Scotland is part of the Halifax/Lloyds/TSB conglomerate and in a similar position, although ever since that merger the tail (Halifax) has been wagging the dog (BoS) so that a lot of group activity is already in England. The TSB would of course go south with the BoS. The Clydesdale Bank was owned by the Midland Bank, which was bought by the National Australian Bank, which intends to sell its UK operations in 2016. If its English operations are bigger than its Scottish operations, which I don't know, then the Clydesdale would also have to move its HQ south. It might have to do that anyway, depending on the decision of whoever buys it next year. So if Scotland were to become independent there would be no Scottish banks left with HQs in Scotland, and although (so they say) day-to-day banking would not change, all Scottish banking would be controlled from England and Wales, and Scottish banks' taxes would go to the Westminster exchequer. It would be rather interesting to see what would happen next. Anne

Hi Maisie et al, The full story of RBS at Buchanan Street/Royal Exchange Sq is to be found here: http://heritagearchives.rbs.com/places/list/glasgow.html Maisie is partially correct in that the bank was indeed located in apart of a mansion on Queen Street on the site of today's GOMA. However it was only there from 1817 to c1827 and by 1834 it was at the west side of Royal Exchange Sq facing into the rear of the largely new Exchange Building (now GOMA), which itself was built on the site of a previously-existing mansion. The collonaded facade of the bank can be seen in the etching at the top of the website article and in the foreground is the rear corner of the Exchange Building, which occupies the centre of the square. The bank extended its property westwards to Buchanan St in 1850 and remained on that large site until 1997, when the entire building became a Borders bookstore. Since Borders withdrew from UK, the building has continued to be used for retailing. So if Maisie was going to RBS in the GOMA building for her boss, she's a bit older than she's let on about! Just joshin'! Ken On 24/12/2015 03:14, Maisie Egger wrote: > Unless I am going totally and absolutely dippy, I was sure that the > Royal Bank of Scotland was located in Royal Exchange Square in the > 1940s as I know that I would deliver mail there for the solicitor for > whom I worked as a wee office lassie. The following backs up my > memories, thank goodness. > > ::: In 1954 Stirling's Library removed once again, to the Royal > Exchange on Queen Street. It was moved back to Miller Street in 1994 > to allow for the building's conversion into the Gallery of Modern Art. > The library returned to the basement of the Royal Exchange building > (previously occupied by the Commercial Library) as the Library at GOMA > in 2002 ::: > > http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSA00860 > > When I returned home for a visit years later I discovered that the > Royal Bank of Scotland had, in between times, latterly been > 'displaced' by the GoMA (Modern Art Museum). > > I have an account with the Royal Bank of Scotland, now in the Gordon > Street branch, Glasgow. I should add that the RBS h.q. in Edinburgh > threatened to move to London in the event of a YES vote to split > Scotland from the rest of the U.K. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Bank_of_Scotland > > -----Original Message----- From: Ken Mathieson via > Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 5:24 PM > To: lanark@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [Lanark] Some of Lost Glasgow > > Hi Maisie and List, > > Royal Bank wasn't in the building now housing GPMA in the middle of > Royal Exchange Sq. Since at least the 1950s (perhaps earleir) to the > 1980s that building was occupied by the Stirling Library at ground level > and the Commercial Library in the basement. During that period the > library was run by the City Council's Libraries. In the 1980's the > basement was occupied by Arts organisations like Mayfest and the Jazz > Festival. > > The Royal Bank fronted on to Buchanan Street with a rear entrance in the > colonnaded facade looking on to Royal Exchange Square. In the 1960s > (possibly earlier too) the rear entrance was the security entrance for > the bank's large-scale cash movements in and out of the building, so > public access was from Buchanan Street. Somewhere online there will be a > history of these buildings. I'm nearly sure the GOMA building started > life as a merchant's very grand house, but it's late here now, so that > research will have to wait for another day. > > Ken > > > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2015.0.6176 / Virus Database: 4489/11246 - Release Date: > 12/24/15 > >