Looking at The Bigger Picture: an analysis of 'Dividend Day at the Bank of England'

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Alice Beagley, Museum Exhibitions Manager

This blog explores research I have conducted in preparation for a display about the painting ‘Dividend Day at the Bank of England’ by George Elgar Hicks. Read on to find out some of the interesting discoveries I made along the way with the help of records from the Bank of England’s Archive!

For context, the painting is one of the most popular items in the Museum’s collection. It was painted in 1859, when the Bank was a joint stock company privately owned by stockholders. Before the Bank of England was nationalised in 1946, many of these stockholders were ordinary members of the public who came from all walks of life.

‘Dividend Day at the Bank of England’ shows some of the Bank’s stockholders gathering in one of the public offices designed by architect John Soane. They have come to collect the profits from their investments (called dividends).

My top findings were:

1. The artist himself was a stockholder

When I began this research project, I was interested to find out whether Hicks was a stockholder at the Bank of England, and it turns out he was! This meant that Hicks would have had first-hand experience of being inside the Bank both as an artist and as an investor. Hicks held Bank Stock alongside his brother, John Braxton Hicks, and George Foster St.Barbe, a family friend. Their holdings were recorded in something called a ‘double alphabet’ ledger (a large, leather-bound book which contained details of stock accounts shared between multiple people). When the account was closed in 1863, the value of the stock was £2066.08 (around £218,000 today): a tidy sum indeed! 

Interesting fact: Hicks’ brother, John Braxton Hicks, was a famous obstetrician. The physiological term given to pre-labour contractions are named after him (Braxton-Hicks contractions).

2. Many women were investors, too

Numerous women appear in Hicks’ painting. Some wear brightly coloured shawls, others are dressed in more muted clothing, as if they’re in mourning (Victorian women were expected to wear dark clothing for a set period of time, which varied depending on their relation to the deceased). Some women have visited with husbands or chaperones, others are unaccompanied.

The archive records are testament to this depiction as many women’s names are listed, either on their own, or alongside husbands and relatives. Whilst the majority of women’s occupations are listed as ‘widow’, ‘spinster’, and ‘wife of’, I was astounded to discover one exception: a record for a woman named Deborah Gale, who lived in Spitalfields near the Bank. Her occupation was listed as a ‘watchmaker’, which was an unusual find from that time. There could well be other examples hidden away in the archive records that haven’t been discovered yet, but this was the only example I found of a Victorian woman who practised a specialised profession that I found.

3. Stockholders had a real variety of jobs and occupations

It soon became clear after going through just a few pages of the ledgers that the Bank’s stockholders didn’t need to be from any particular background in order to invest: it tuns out that there was a huge variety of stockholders’ professions, some of which still exist today.

A few examples of occupations I came across during my research are below, but many more are included in the upcoming display:

Cork cutter, Duchess, Servant, Civil engineer, Veterinary surgeon, Clerk, Innkeeper, Silk merchant, Plumber, Butcher, Farmer and Labourer.

4. Stockholders weren’t only based in London

The Bank of England can seem a bit London-centric due to its physical location in the City of London (we do have twelve agencies located across regional areas of the UK, but more on those another time). Whilst there were quite a few stockholders in the archival records whose addresses were within London, many others were from other parts of the UK (such as Leith, Abergavenny, Truro, Berwick, Sunderland, Norfolk, and Staffordshire). Some stockholders lived even further afield in places like India, Australia, Poland, France, Canada, and the Netherlands.

The research I carried out in preparation for the display brought a really interesting array of information to light. I’m excited to share it and hope that you can visit the display in person. You can find out more information about the display via our ‘What’s On’ page. You can also join me for a talk on the display, with our Researcher-led Talks: The Bigger Picture display.