Those who were granted leave by the Bank to enlist in His Majesty’s Forces are included in these records. As well as their position in the Bank, each entry contains brief notes about their war service, including where they served, promotions, awards received and if they were injured or killed. 71 members of the Bank's staff lost their lives during the First World War.
The impact of the war on the Bank is illustrated by a change in the workforce between 1914 and 1918. In August 1914, women clerks at the Bank numbered just 66 and their work was predominantly typing and counting notes. As a result of the enlistment of many of the Bank’s junior male clerks, the number of temporary and permanent women clerks increased to a peak of 2,463 in June 1919. The responsibilities of the women clerks were also changing. An extract from the Committee of Treasury minutes on 28 October 1914 discusses that as it was now, 'desirable to employ women clerks permanently on the coupon work of the Securities Office, the Committee agreed to recommend to the Court of Directors that the staff of the Women Clerks Department be increased by eight clerks.’
Following the First World War, a list of all the Bank staff who served in His Majesty’s Forces was displayed on the walls in the Bank’s entrance. During the re-building of the Bank between 1921 and 1942 by architect Herbert Baker, the names were re-inscribed onto the Bank’s new entrance walls.
The entries in the Service Records are alphabetical. Although the entries primarily cover the First World War period of 1914-1918, they do also contain updates for certain soldiers up to 1919. They do not contain the names of every member of staff who was granted leave.
Archive catalogue reference: M5/708-710 (These files are searchable under the title of 'European War 1914-1918' in the archive catalogue)