ep-06 Issue - The Heraldry Society

4
BARCLAYS
EAGLE
by Martin Davies
One of Britain’s largest heraldic
devices (right) has been removed
from the Barclays building in Poole,
Dorset. Barclays has denied it
removed the eagle because of
concerns that it has possible Nazi
connotations. Some national
newspapers said the bank - at that
time trying to buy Netherlands
group ABN Amro - "feared its eagle
might offend Dutch customers".
Barclays said it removed the sign
because it is moving to new offices.
The leader of Poole council, Brian Leverett said: "One
is always sorry when you see a familiar landmark go
from the area. One could almost see it as a piece of
local art. It is a decision tinged with sadness."
Resident Amanda Steele, 45, said: "I'm really sad
that the eagle has been taken down as it has been
watching over the town for so long. I have grown quite
attached to it over the years. Lots of people work in the
building and so it has become very important in the
town and the eagle is a part of it."
A spokesman for the bank said: “The logo has been
taken down purely because it is a very old version of
our eagle. We are moving out of the building, which
is a back office, in stages to another site by 2010. Our
corporate logo is Barclays and the eagle. If we were to
merge - and this is by no means certain - it would be
known as Barclays, with the shield of ABN Amro. We
will continue to use the eagle in UK branches”.
The Spread Eagle emblem has featured prominently
throughout the history of Barclays. In the late
seventeenth century a goldsmith-banker called John
Freame was living in the City of London. The exact
date he started his business is not known, but in 1690
he was a partner in a banking business which traded
at premises in Lombard Street. In those days very few
people could read and write and business houses used
pictorial signs so that their customers could find them
easily. The use of street signs to identify buildings goes
back to a decision of the Corporation of London in
1580 which ordered “that shopkeepers shall hang out
signs at theire shopps”
In 1728 the partnership moved to 54 Lombard
Street at the sign of the Black Spread Eagle, and in
1736 Freame's son Joseph took on his brother-in-law
James Barclay as a partner. The business expanded
over the years and other properties in Lombard Street
were acquired, many with their own signs, but the
Spread Eagle was to remain associated with the
Barclay partnership.
In the 1930s Barclays Bank Limited sought and
obtained a Grant of Arms (above). The Bank naturally
wanted to keep the Eagle it had used for so long but,
because other ancient and royal houses carried it in
various forms, the College of Arms ruled that it must
be “differenced”. This was done appropriately by
adding three silver crowns (since numbers 43 and 55,
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