1672

After a seven year apprenticeship, Richard Hoare was made a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. The following year he bought his former master’s business and soon built up a sizeable trade as a goldsmith banker. His offices were in Cheapside at the sign of the Golden Bottle and this insignia is still in use today. 

1690

Richard moved his business to new premises on Fleet Street in the City of London a site Hoare’s bank still occupies today. 

1702

Richard’s son ‘Good*’ Henry became a Partner. Richard, who was knighted by Queen Anne and later served as Lord Mayor of London, died in 1719. After Richard’s death, Henry ran the bank alongside younger brother Benjamin. 

1717

Good Henry bought the Stourhead estate in Wiltshire, establishing the Hoare family as country gentlemen. 

1720

Speculation on the ‘South Sea Bubble’ allowed the bank’s Partners to generate considerable profits for themselves and for many of their customers. 

1725

Henry’s son, Henry ‘The Magnificent’ became a partner at the age of only 19 and remained one until his death 60 years later. 
Much of his leisure time was dedicated to Stourhead, and in particular to the creation of its famous gardens, now one of the National Trust’s most visited attractions. 
The senior clerk, Christopher Arnold, became the first of only three non-family Partners in the bank’s history. 

1731

Henry the Magnificent’s brother Sir Richard was made Partner and knighted in 1745 at the age of just 30. He was responsible for defending London during the second Jacobite uprising. Sadly he died 14 years later. 

1763

The bank issued its first printed cheque. 

1777

Henry ‘of Mitcham’ was made a Partner. Initially not expected to live long, he went on to dominate the bank for the next 50 years. His strictmanagement of the bank’s affairs during the unsteady period of the American and Continental Wars saw deposits treble. 

1799

Charles Hoare commissioned Luscombe Castle and gardens in South Devon, a house in which Sir David Hoare and his son Simon continue to live. 
Charles was one of the founders of the I.C.B.S which financed the building of 880 Anglican churches between 1815 and 1850. 
His Christian name is the origin of the ‘C’ of C. Hoare & Co. 

1829

The present bank building was started and completed just 15 months later. Built to designs by Charles Parker, its cost (excluding fittings) was £21,000. 
By this date the bank was also issuing chequebooks and washing books, the forerunner of statements. 

1852

Peter ‘of Luscombe’ and Henry ‘of Staplehurst’ entered into a new partnership agreement. Brothers in law by marriage, their 14 year partnership suffered from the profound differences in their religious views. 
The sons of both Henry and Peter burdened the business with debt and scandal during the 1860s. 

1929

The Partners converted the bank into a private unlimited liability company, the legal form of the bank today. 

1939

On the outbreak of World War Two most of the bank’s staff were evacuated to a family house Ovington Park in Hampshire. In May 1941, the Fleet Street premises were bombed. The resulting fires were bravely extinguished by the household staff, led by Bertram Hoare, using water from the bank’s artesian well. 

1959

Henry ‘Cadogan’ became the first of the 10th generation of partners. Deposits had climbed to £9 million and staff levels stood at just over 100. 

1975

The first bankwide computer system was installed. 

1996

Venetia Hoare became the first female Partner. 

2006

The bank appointed its first non-family Chairman. 

2008

Master Charitable Trust launched

2014

Lending over £1.1bn, assets under management over £1.5bn, deposits over £2.5bn.

(*) For nine generations the partnership had never been without a ‘Henry’ and epithets to identify them individually had to be devise