Banking, bureaucracy and the career: the curious case of Mr Notman

Abstract

The cornerstone of banks' internal control was the inspection system that fanned out from the centre to examine all local transactions and records. A critical aspect of the inspection system was reporting on staff performance. Inspection was the lynchpin of the banks' surveillance systems that reached into all aspects of their employees' professional and personal lives before 1939. The nature of this control was revealed by a court case involving a Scottish bank clerk refused permission to marry by his employer. The rationale for this marriage bar lay in the nature of the banking career which was pursued in strictly ‘closed’ internal labour markets. Promotion was governed by professional competence and the organisation's assessment of the individual's personal development.

Keywords:

• bank
• internal labour market
• surveillance
• career

Notes

^4. McBey, Early Life, 32–33.

^5. Anon., Letters, 7–8.

^7. Anon., Letters, 13.

^1. De Wit and Den Ende, “Emergence,” 88.

^2. Lewcock, Securities Clerk, 1938; Attlewell, “Clerk Deskilled,” 366; Cohn, Process, 65–69, 83–84; McKinlay, “‘Little Cogs’”; and Dale, Clerk in Industry, 2–5, for a summary of early twentieth century literary accounts of clerical drudgery.

^3. McBey, Early Life, 49–50.

^6. Poggi, Calvinism, 89; Jackall, Workers, 44–48.

^8. Jacoby, “New Institutionalism,” for the place of internal labour markets in institutional economics.

^9. Baker and Hengstrom, “Internal Labour Markets,” 255; Doeringer and Piore, Internal Labour Markets.

^10. Rosenbaum, Career Mobility, 22.

^11. Boot, “Salaries and Career,” 634–638; Collins, “Growth.”

^12. Leaf, Banking, 169.

^13. Doeringer and Piore, Internal Labor Markets, 2; Wholey, “Determinants,” 318.

^14. Anderson, Victorian Clerks, 12–13.

^15. Seltzer, “Internal Labour Markets,” 239–240.

^16. Dohmen, Kriechel, and Pfann, “Monkey Bars.”

^17. Baker, Gibb, and Holstrom, “Internal Economies,” 882–3.

^18. Rosen, “Prizes,” 701.

^19. For similar processes, see Ariga, Brunello, and Okhusa, Internal Labour Markets, 124.

^20. Leaf, Banking, 239, 234.

^21. Martens, Exclusion, 109; Green, “Export Bankers,” and Taylor, “Banking on Promotion,” ch. 5, for the bankers' reasons for emigration.

^22. Prendergast, “Yes Men,” 758; Audas, Barmby, and Treble, “Luck,” 282.

^24. C. Tennant, Interview, nd, Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), ACC. 01/44; Doeringer and Piore, Internal Labor Markets, 21.

^23. Grey, “Career,” 481.

^25. W. McKinnon, Bank of Scotland, Checkland Interview, Feb. 21, 1973, Glasgow University Archive, UGD129/7/1/6.

^26. Prandy, Stewart, and Blackburn, White-Collar Work, 109–110; Brown and Coupland, “Sounds,” 1060.

^27. Lord Erskine of Rennick, Commercial Bank, Checkland Interview, Dec. 16, 1970, UGD 129/7/1/6, 4.

^28. Hochschild, Managed Heart, 84; Hearn, Men, 7.

^29. Anon., Letters, 16.

^30. Bank of Scotland, “Treasurer's Memo,” Oct. 28, 1927, 3, HBOS ACC.04/62/120; National Bank of Scotland, The Teller (Summer 1929), 22; Green, Debtors, 107–112, for the increasing importance of professional credentials in this period.

^31. Rae, Country Banker, 181–182.

^32. Kerr, Scottish Banking, 134.

^33. Bank of Scotland, “Life-Style and Living Costs: Comparison Tables,” Nov. 6, 1920, HBOS ACC/04/62/75; Minutes of Meeting of Scottish Bank Managers, Jan. 10, 1938, HBOS, SBM/1/18.

^34. Forgan, Recollections, 43–44; Guerriero Wilson, Disillusionment, 149.

^35. Davidoff, Worlds Between, 155.

^38. Commercial Bank, “Internal Memo,” Dec. 11, 1933; the National Bank of Scotland, while similarly severe, offered the paternal observation that, ‘unduly early or imprudent marriages are a disadvantage not only to the Bank but to the Staff themselves’, “Early Marriage,” June 23, 1932, Modern Records Centre, Warwick University (MRC) MSS56/376.

^36. Seltzer, “Controlling and Motivating,” 231.

^37. See National Bank, “Handbook of Staff Rules and Regulations,” 1932, 15; Scotsman, Feb. 15, 1936, 15.

^39. Aug. 17, 1936, “Note of Meeting, Norman, Ministry of Labour and Erskine, General Manager of the Commercial Bank,” National Archive, London (NAL) LAB10/31.

^40. Appendix for Pursuer and Respondent, Court of Session, July 27, 1938, 5, National Archive of Scotland (NAS), CS258/4617/5; some English banks had published salary scales, although it is unclear how rigorously they were adhered to, see Heller, “Work,” 258.

^41. Hallyday, Marriage, 1–2, 154.

^42. Glasgow Herald, Aug. 11, 14, 1939; Scottish Banker, January 1939.

^43. Gittins, Fair Sex, 82–84; Banks, Prosperity, 139–169, for middle classes early adoption of birth control, and for bankers in particular, see Szreter, Fertility, 387, 346–347.

^44. Rattray, Country Banker, 23.

^45. Civil Service Clerical Association, Annual Report, 1938, 29, MRC MSS292/134.1/2; Report of the Civil Service National Whitley Council Committee on the Marriage Bar, Parliamentary Papers, 1945–46 (Cmnd. 6886), 26–31.

^46. Smith, “Womanpower,” 943.

^47. Lewis, Women, 158, 196; Holcombe, Victorian Ladies, 144.

^48. Zimmeck, “Jobs,” 159; Dohn, “Pioneers,” 57–58; Zimmeck, “Strategies,” 904.

^49. Kennet, Report, 4–6; Bell, “Women,” 5.

^50. National Union of Bank Employees, “Marriage Bar,” 1954, MRC MSS56/82.

^53. Interview, nd, John Ferguson, HBOS Acc. 2001/42.

^51. Gouldner, Patterns, 167.

^52. Tamaki, Life Cycle, 116; Rae, “English and Scottish Banking,” 359.

^54. Warren, Banks, 89; McKinlay, “‘Dead Selves’,” 598–600; McKinlay and Wilson, “‘Small Acts’,” 664–668.

^55. Seltzer and Merrett, “Personnel Policies,” 586; Grandjeau, “History and Career,” 1059; Baron, Davis-Blake, and Bielby, “Structure,” 253.

^56. J. Leatham, President of the Institute of Bankers in Scotland, Checkland Interview, March 3, 1971, UGD129/7/1/6.

^57. Bank of Scotland, Minutes, Joint Council, Nov. 19, 1926, June 28, 1929, HBOS ACC.03/85/3.

^58. Parker, “Work and Non-Work,” 65–68; Lockwood, Black-coated Worker, 68–74.

^59. By contrast, Seltzer and Simons, “Salaries,” 222 conclude, somewhat hesitantly, that ‘all of these practices were easily observable to employees and may have been perceived as fair.’

^60. Merrett and Seltzer, “Work”; Keneley, “In the Service.”

^61. Klingender, Clerical Labour, 32; McLeod, “White Collar,” 63.

^62. Glasgow Herald, Oct. 19, 1938.

^63. Aug. 17, 1936, ‘Note of Meeting, Norman, Ministry of Labour and Erskine, General Manager of the Commercial Bank’, NAL, LAB10/31.

^64. Edinburgh Evening News, Oct. 19, 1938.

^65. Commercial Bank of Scotland, Staff Book, 1924–29, Royal Bank of Scotland Archive, CS/122.

^66. Jamieson, Intimacy, 1998, 23; Gillis, For Better, 279.

^67. Glasgow Herald, Oct. 19, 1938.

^68. Bailey, “White Collars,” 280.

^69. Moneta, Scottish Banks, 91, 143.

^71. Edinburgh Evening News, Oct. 18, 1938.

^70. Glasgow Herald, Oct. 19, 1938; Roper, Masculinity, 77–100.

^72. Scotsman, Oct. 20, 1938.

^73. Tosh, “Old Adam,” 232; Lockwood, Black-coated Worker, 124.

^74. Tosh, A Man's Place, 2–4; Barker, “Soul,” 13, 17, for the nexus of work and family in middle class masculine identities.

^75. Scottish Bankers' Association (SBA), “Dismissed Because He Wanted to Marry!,” 1935; for a similar case, but a happier outcome, in Lloyds Bank, see Savage, Stovel, and Bearman, “Class Formation, ” 290; for Barclays Bank, see Bennett, “Gendering Cultures,” 198–199; for London County Council, see Pennybacker, Vision, 81–83.

^76. The Scotsman, Oct. 20, 1938.

^81. The Scottish Law Gazette, 6, no. 4 (Dec. 1938): 287.

^82. Scots Law Times Reports, 1938, 17; and for the ratification of Keith's ruling by judicial review see pp. 427–428. The Notman case remains an authority cited regarding the scope of privileged communications and probable cause, see Norrie, Defamation, 107; Walker, Principles, 635, 637.

^83. Checkland, Scottish Banking, 572 and Commercial Bank, Our Bank, for brief biographies of key bank directors.

^84. Commercial Bank, Directors' Weekly Meetings, 28 October, 2 December 1937, Royal Bank of Scotland Archive, CS/14/30.

^85. Scottish Banker, July 1936, p. 125, 128; for a similar use of the expression ‘industrial serf’ in 1937, see McKinlay, “From Industrial Serf.”

^77. A. Mackay, “The Scottish Bankers' Association,” nd, c. 1937, UGD/7/1/152; A. Mackay, “Memoirs,” Bank Officer, March 1959, 64–65; D. Robertson, “Twenty Years After,” Bank Officer, May 1956, 10–11; The Scottish Banker, Sept. 1937, 191; Forward, May 15, 1937; Taylor, “Banking on Promotion,” ch. 5.

^78. Checkland, Scottish Banking, 38.

^79. Forward, 15 May 1937; New Leader, Oct. 14, 1938.

^80. National Union of Bank Employess (NUBE), National Executive Committee, Minutes, Oct. 18, Dec. 6, 1936, 19, Feb. 20, 1938, MRC MSS56/1/4,5.

^86. “Memo,” Erskine to Norman, Sept.10, 1936.

^87. Closed Record, Court of Session, July 14, 1937, 8–11, NAS, CS258/4617/1; the union's argument was broadly accurate, see, Stovel, Savage, and Bearman, “Ascription into Achievement,” 380–381.

^89. Daily Express, Aug. 17, 1936; similarly, New Statesman, July 18, 1936.

^88. Time, Sept. 7, 1936.

^90. Daily Record, Oct. 21, 1938, 3.

^91. Edinburgh Evening News, Oct. 19, 1938.

^92. The Bulletin, Oct. 22, 1938.

^93. Daily Record, Oct. 22, 1938, 1; The Bulletin, Oct. 22, 1938, 4.

^94. SBA statement, The Times, Oct. 22, 1938.

^95. Halaby, “Bureaucratic,” 467–468.

^96. “The Notman Case,” Branch Banking, Nov. 1938, 416.

^97. Hirschman, Exit, 107–110; Pfeffer and Cohen, “Determinants,” 557, for a parallel commentary.

^98. Bank Officers' Guild, SBA Joint Meeting, Oct. 18, 1941, 1–2, MRC MSS56/401.

^99. Royal Bank of Scotland Staff Association, Minutes, nd, 1944, MRC, MSS56/434.