Cornish Bank (Tweedy, Williams & Company, Sir John Molesworth & Son, Praed & Co), Truro

Cornish Bank also known as Sir John Molesworth & Son; Praed & Co; Tweedy, Williams & Co)
Founded in Truro in 1771, it first established a branch in Redruth in 1834, at Penryn
Street.169 In 1862 this became part of the West Cornwall Bank.170 In 1866 a new
branch of the Cornish Bank opened at 27 Fore Street.171 In 1902 the bank was taken
over by the Capital & Counties Bank.

[The historic bank buildings of Redruth, Cornwall]

Tweedy, Williams & Company, founded as Sir John Molesworth & Son 1771 Truro;
in 1879 the firm failed, following financial crisis precipitated by collapse of City of Glasgow Bank previous October - reconstituted same year as Cornish Bank;  taken over by Capital & Counties Bank (est. 1877) in 1902, by which time had 30 branches [Jisc:]

1878

Sir Frederick Williams, one of the partners in the Cornish Bank, died unexpectedly on 3 September 1878.  

The news, together with rumours and recent high-profile failures of banks in Bristol and Glasgow, led to a run on the bank in early January 1879 and it suspended payment on the 4th. 55

The collapse of the Cornish Bank sent shockwaves throughout Cornwall. According to the Western Morning News it had been regarded locally ‘as scarcely second to the Bank of England’. 56

Several explanations for the failure were put forward, including Sir Frederick Williams’s heavy overdrafts, and substantial advances to struggling mines in times of low tin prices. 57 In the end the partners were able to pay all their creditors and the bank was re-founded in March 1879 as a joint-stock bank with limited liability called Cornish Bank Ltd. 58