irishpapermoney.com

Records show John McMullen and John King registered as bankers in Sligo in 1804. The attached £1 note from 1802/1803 (date not clear) was issued by this partnership in Dublin with an address at 45 Dominick Street. This is an interesting example of a private bank operating from two locations. Another example would be Ffrench’s Bank which issued notes from their Tuam and Dublin branches.

A note issued by John McMullen & Co. from their Sligo branch has not been recorded to date.

Kenny & Turner estimate the demise of McMullen & Co. as 1806 based on Watson’s Almanac.

Alexander McCreery and James Ballantine also operated a bank based in Sligo and Dublin. The bank is believed to have survived for only a short time, opening in 1805 and closing in 1806. It operated two branches, one in Sligo, the other in Dublin at 95 Capel Street. The bankruptcy proceedings suggest that McCreery was based in Dublin while Ballantine was based in Sligo.

A £1 note from 1805 is known, issued by the Dublin Branch. Sligo notes have not been seen to date.

Nice to see paper from banks in the North West. The two bills are similar in design, same printer?
Did they pay off their debts after going bust, not much of their currency about so maybe it was mostly paid off.

I had the same thought about the similarity in design and yes it is likely that the notes issued by the different partnerships were printed by the same printer.

The lack of notes outstanding suggests that both partnerships paid off most of their debts.

Some of these banks from more outlying regions of the country probably used the same printers.
A printing company called Ashby in London printed notes for many banks in the southern Limerick-Cork region of Ireland.

I think it is likely that the notes of both Galway Banks, Joyce and Lynch were printed by the same, probably local printer in Galway.

It is interesting that both of these banks had a Dublin branch, or at least an office there.

B H Everard also registered as a Sligo-based banker in 1804. PMI reports a 1s 1d note dated 1804 issued by him. Everard was primarily a merchant and probably only involved in banking as a sideline activity.

A lot of these part-time 'banker' merchants would issue promissory notes when buying in stock or materials, and redeem them in full later after they had sold on goods. All very respectable. I would guess that many of these never registered as bankers as it was a sideline.

I came across a reference recently which indicates that Ffrench’s Bank had a branch in Sligo in 1807. To date, no notes issued by this branch have been recorded.

Sounds interesting. We are uncovering some nice discoveries under the stones!