Thanks for this excellent comment Margaret. It is, as you say, a sobering tale. If only today's bankers had learned the lessons.

Perhaps worth adding that in my research one writer (can't remember who) pointed out that the closure of the bank was a bit of an overreaction, that something could have been salvaged if they hadn't been so quick to close everything down - the bank, as pointed out in the article, was still quite a successful going concern with £600,000 in deposits despite its debts.

As a footnote to this, at least two Pedder descendents (from totally different branches of the family) have been in touch with ashtononribble.com over the years. They seem to be doing fine now!

Simon