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DARLINGTON BUILDING SOCIETY
Like the The Northern Echo's sister paper The Darlington and Stockton Times, Darlington Building Society has a long, illustrious history. PETER BARRON looks back at a selection of the Society’s milestones over the past 166 years...
JULY, 1856: Amid growing frustrations that it is impossible for working people to get a foothold on the property ladder, a group of men meet in the back room of Mrs Johnson’s Eating House, in Church Row, which runs from Tubwell Row to Darlington Market Place.
The result of their discussions is the formation of the Darlington Working Men’s Permanent Building Society.It is called a ‘permanent’ Society to differentiate it from the ‘terminating’ Societies which were wound up once all the borrowers had paid back their loans.
August 5, 1856: The first meeting of the Society takes place in Central Hall, which is now behind the Dolphin Centre. Joseph Whitwell Pease, who would become head of the family’s mining, railway and mill interests, is the first presi-dent, while the respected stock-broker William Thompson is vice-president.
The first prospectus declares that the Society is to aimed at “the industrious and frugal man”.
The day after that meeting, the Darlington and Stockton Times, writes: “All those of our readers, who are interested in the improvement of the town of Darlington, will be glad to learn that a building society has just been formed in this place.
“Such a Society has long been a desideratum.”
October 6, 1856: The first annual meeting of the Society takes place in the Town Hall, on the site of today’s Covered Market. By now, the Society’s name has been changed to the Darlington Working Men’s Equitable Permanent Benefit Building Society.
The Society has three Liberal trustees: Edward ‘the father of the railways’ Pease; industrialist Henry King Spark, and railway engineer John Harris.
1858: Two years after the Society’s formation, the first houses are built on the Freeholders’ Home Estate, co-owned by trustee John Harris, in the Eastbourne area of Darlington.
These working-class properties are designed to be just big enough so that the owner qualifies for a vote in Parliamentary elections.
One of the streets on the estate is named Harris Street, another is Pease Street, and there are Cobden and Bright streets, named after nationally prominent Liberal politicians.
The Society’s first-year receipts are recorded as £2,000 8s 7½d – the halfpenny being part of a fine paid by a borrower who was overdue. The Society has lent £1,724 2s 5d in mortgages.
1872: The Society spreads its wings from Darlington for the first time by agreeing to visit Middlesbrough periodically to receive contributions from members.
1876: The Society is officially incorporated as a building society and shortens its name to the Darlington Equitable Building Society (DEBS). An extraordinary logo is adopted featuring a topless young lady holding a set of scales, to show how equitable she was, and a horn of plenty with wealth spilling from it.
1887: The Society’s first office had been located in “a dirty little room” in Central Hall, which was open just 30 minutes a day, but new offices are now opened in High Row.
1888: Advances to borrowers are up to £5,908 – a triumphant leap from £558 the previous year.
1895: By the time the Society moves into new premises in Northgate its assets have grown to nearly £90,000.
1901: The Society instructs local architect, William Agutter, to start work on building its own premises after acquiring a property in Church Row that had been occupied by the Commondale Brick and Pipe Company.
1902: An advertisement for the Darlington Equitable Building Society, published in the Reeth, Hawes and Swaledale Show catalogue, declares: “Money makes money when you know how to invest it.”
April 28, 1903: The smart new headquarters, which have cost the grand total of £1,100 to build, are officially opened, leading to the Darlington and Stockton Times reporting: “It is evidence of the solidity of the Society.”
The 1920s: Despite The Great Depression ravaging the country, the Society’s assets reach £1m. By the outbreak of the Second World War, this figure is more than £3m.
August 28, 1946: The Darlington Equitable Building Society merges with the Durham and Yorkshire Building Society (D&YBS) to form Darlington Building Society.
The D&YBS dated back to September 28, 1865, when the Onward Building Society was formed at 85 Northgate. It was a temperance Society, founded by John Harrison and backed by the Pease and Backhouse families.
The newly-merged Darlington Building Society has assets of £4.83m and still has its head office in Church Row.
1965: Darlington Building Society buys the properties between the Golden Cock and Queen’s Head pubs in Tubwell Row, including Harrison’s Yard, for £106,000. They are demolished and, in their place, a new head office is built for a grand opening a year later.
1992: The Tubwell Row headquarters are rebuilt as part of the Cornmill Centre development.
1994: The Society’s headquarters move to Sentinel House in the Morton Palms area of town, with the Tubwell Row office remaining open as the Darlington town centre branch.
2011: The Society relocates its headquarters to offices just off Yarm Road, and to this day is settled in two buildings – Sentinel House and Mutual House – on Morton Road.
2016: The Society celebrates its 160th anniversary by raising £167,213 for good causes in the community, with 209 different organisations supported and staff donating 187 volunteer days.
2017: The Society introduces its annual pledge to donate five per cent of its profits to support community organisations. It is a commitment that has gone on to be a cornerstone of the Society’s operations.
January, 2018: Jack Cullen is appointed Chair of Darlington Building Society, having joined the board as a non-executive director in 2015. Mr Cullen has held numerous senior management and executive roles during a 40-year career within the financial services and risk management sectors and remains the Society’s Chairman to this day.
December, 2018: Andrew Craddock joins Darlington Building Society as the new Chief Executive. He has previously spent four years as Chief Executive of Buckinghamshire Building Society and brings 30 years of industry experience to the role. Mr Craddock remains Chief Executive in 2022.
2019: Darlington Building Society announces a key strategic move by giving Darlington Intermediaries its own brand identity as part of the Society, with the promise to work with brokers to “make complex cases simple”.
April, 2020: A month after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chief Executive Andrew Craddock announces to members at the virtual annual general meeting that the five per cent pledge will be extended for five years, guaranteeing it will be maintained until at least 2025 to tie in with the 200th anniversary of the world’s first public railway between Stockton and Darlington.
2021: Darlington Building Society continues to rise to the challenges of the pandemic and emerges from the year with the best set of financial results in its history, posting a pre-tax profit of £3.2m – up from £0.7m in 2020. The balance sheet of £752m is also the highest ever.
The Society’s outstanding performance leads to a series of industry honours:
- Building Society of the Year at the MoneyAge Awards;
- Building Society of the Year at the MoneyAge Mortgage Awards;
- Help To Buy ISA Provider of the Year at the MoneyAge Mortgage Awards;
- Best Self-Build Lender at the Build It Awards.
Highlights of the past year include
- Darlington Building Society being named by Best Companies – a highly-respected organisation specialising in workforce engagement – as one of the UK’s top mid-sized companies to work for. The Society is also rated the third best UK financial services company to work for, as well as being one of the top 30 best North-East companies to work for;
- Darlington Building Society being named as the first lender to support the government’s Help to Build scheme, making self-building a more accessible option to many thousands of aspiring homeowners;
- A huge investment in new technology is made to improve member experience. This includes a new website, a more customer-friendly telephony system, new payment system, new mortgage sales and origination platform, and the IT infrastructure being migrated to the Cloud;
- An ongoing investment to upgrade the branch network, which has so far included a new Redcar branch being opened in a more prominent High Street location and refurbishments of branches at Guisborough, Yarm, Barnard Castle,Northallerton and Stockton;
- A reinforced commitment to the five per cent profits share pledge;
- April, 2022: The annual general meeting is held at the headquarters of the Great North Air Ambulance. At it the Society’s chairman, Jack Cullen, declares: “Our investment will continue into 2022 and beyond. It will see us deliver a more modern, efficient, vibrant and sustainable society, but one that will remain rooted to our principles and community.”
- September, 2022: Darlington Building Society continues to show that it is at the heart of the local community when it is unveiled as a key partner in ambitious plans to celebrate the bicentennial of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 2025. The Society is to sponsor a new Exhibition Hall.
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