Midland Bank Goodwick

The first photograph shows the branch of Midland Bank in Goodwick located in the house known as Gwylfa. The photo must be later than 1923 as this was when the name London City and Midland Bank changed its name to simply  Midland Bank.

The date a bank first opened in Goodwick is not known although it would seem to have been there in 1921 as the census tells than Mr Thomas Thomas who with his family, was living in Gwylfa at the time, was employed as a bank agent for London City and Midland Bank. The census also reveals that he worked from home and his son John worked as a bank clerk for the same bank in Haverfordwest.
The 1911 census records that Mr Thomas and his family were living in Gwylfa then too but at that time Mr Thomas was a sea captain – perhaps when he retired from sea he took on the role of bank agent and this involved using a room in his home as a base for the bank.

Many local people will remember the square single storey building almost on Goodwick Square which was used for many years as a sub branch of Midland Bank. Exactly when it was built is again not known but a photo exists of it in the HSBC archives dated 1935.

Presumably once the sub branch was built, Gwylfa returned once more to a private residence. Mr (Captain) Thomas, his wife and unmarried daughters were still living there in 1939 with Mr Thomas describing himself as a retired Master Mariner. Gwylfa was later lived in by the Reverend Watts Williams and his family and then in the 1960s and 1970s it was run as a Bed and Breakfast by Michael and Nancy Ryan.

Thomas Thomas, the first bank agent was born in Aberporth. He went to sea at a young age, following in his father’s footsteps and qualified to become a Master Mariner.  He met and married Elizabeth Ann Griffiths of Goodwick, daughter of Henry Griffiths, stone cutter and they married in 1898 when they were both 34 years old. At the time of her marriage Elizabeth recorded her address as that of the Glendower in Goodwick. When first married, Elizabeth ran a grocers shop in Goodwick but then the family into Gwylfa where they remained for around forty years.