The temporary (wartime) Bank that preceded the Birmingham Municipal Bank (BMB) commenced business on September 29th 1916. Few reliable records exist to show the names of the people who worked for this short-lived organisation. The extant minutes of the Corporation Committee that managed the Bank include references to staff relating to pay, resignations, positions held, etc, but often these only quote surnames - and sometimes there are conflicts regarding the correct spelling of those names. Although this is unsatisfactory from an historical record aspect, it is not altogether surprising considering the conditions under which the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank (BCSB) operated. Operating from temporary premises under wartime conditions and utilising whatever facilities could be obtained to set up branches in factories, were not ideal conditions to deal with cash transactions based on flimsy paper coupons. There appears to have been a very high turnover of staff, and a very small proportion of the 65 people listed below must have worked for the BCSB at any one time.

 

Some of the staff that worked for the BCSB did so on a voluntary basis - often doing so as an agent of the Bank at the factory where they worked. Others worked as factory branch agents in return for some remuneration; an example of this arrangement was the employment of Harry Howard Crump. Mr Crump worked at the Gas Department's Windsor Street works and was paid at the rate of ½% of cash received, subject to a minimum of 2/6d and a maximum of £1 a week. After the war, Mr Crump was employed by the BMB but was dismissed from his position as manager of Duddeston branch consequent to a series of defalcations (The Crump Affair).