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Introduction
The Victorian era witnessed the rise of the clerical class. As a social stratum they provide a fascinating focus of study, distinctly different from the labouring masses in their dress and manners, yet not quite reaching the ranks of the middle class. The bank clerk in particular poses an interesting domain of historical inquiry. Often viewed as the elite of the clerical categories, he could potentially enjoy a highly lucrative career with very real prospects of social mobility. In addition, a fear of scandal within the banking community generally ensured that the occupants of this post were imbued with the most ardent devotion to Victorian notions of respectability.
This paper examines the office of bank clerk in Victorian society and draws on archival material to supplement insights from the existing literature. The paper is structured as follows. In the immediately following section, literature on the life of the Victorian bank clerk is reviewed. Attention is paid in particular to issues dealing with recruitment, clerical aptitude, career prospects and an underlying devotion to decorum. In the subsequent section, these same and other issues are examined within the context of the UK's oldest surviving independent bank: Hoare and Company of Fleet Street, London. The nineteenth century records of the bank's private archive yield a rich understanding of the Victorian bank career[1] . The final section discusses the contemporary insights that can be drawn from a consideration of Victorian banking values and the lessons it may yield for today's global financial crisis.
The Victorian bank clerk
The maintenance of respectability was paramount to the life of the Victorian workingman generally ([16] Davidoff and Hall, 1992). However, the clerical classes were particularly concerned with the enhancement of status and "moral superiority" ([40] Thompson, 1988, p. 68). This was a grouping, which exhibited strong social aspirations, often to the point of ridicule in the popular press ([14] Crossick, 1977). Such aspirations were most vividly expressed in dress practices, with clerks readily emulating the fashions of their employers in an attempt to draw a clear demarcation line between themselves and manual workers ([25] Klingender, 1935). These matters were, of course not of complete disinterest to employers either. In the interests of serving public appearances, an employee's mode of dress was...