The post office and its story an interesting account of the activities of a great government department

In 1817 Trustee Savings Banks were established in certain towns under regulations fixed by Act of Parliament, and for nearly half a century these institutions provided a means by which the small savings of the public could be deposited at a fixed rate of interest. But these were local banks, and there were still vast areas of population unprovided for in the matter of banking facilities. What was wanted was a system for the whole of the country, something which could really be regarded as a People's Bank. The rapid extension of the Money Order system, and the creation in every town and in almost every village of a post office where business other than that of the receipt and despatch of correspondence was conducted, suggested to Mr. C. W. Sikes, a bank official of Huddersfield, that here was the organisation for the purpose. He wrote in 1860 an open letter to Mr. Gladstone, who was at the time Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which he pointed out that there were eighteen counties and 2000 towns without a Savings Bank of any kind. He directed Mr. Gladstone's attention to the success of the Money Order system, and he urged him to use the same medium for savings, “for thereby you bring the Savings Bank within less than an hour's walk of the fireside of every working man in the Kingdom.” The appeal was successful. Mr. Gladstone with characteristic enthusiasm adopted the plan, and carried a Bill through Parliament to give effect to the proposals. On the 16th September 1861 Post Office Saving Banks were opened in 300 towns, and from that date onwards the story has been one of continued progress. According to the Postmaster-General's report of 1910 the number of Post Office Savings Bank accounts, excluding those which experience has shown are dormant, was 7,913,295, and the amount of money standing to the credit of depositors was £164,596,065. The average amount of each deposit was £2, 7s. 9d.