Lister Lane Cemetery is the last resting place of a remarkable number of men significant in the early days of what became the largest Building Society in the world.

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Originally, building societies were groups formed by working men, who would club together to buy land to build themselves houses. These were ‘terminating’ societies, which would disband when their last member had been housed. In due course ‘permanent societies’ were created, where workers could save their money long-term in a common fund, for a guaranteed rate of interest. This cash would then be loaned on, to enable people to build or buy houses. Such societies could continue to operate for as long as their members desired.

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Halifax Permanent Benefit Building Society

Following a meeting held in December 1852 in The Oak Room at Halifax’s Old Cock Hotel, the Halifax Permanent Benefit Building Society was established by a group of local businessmen and manufacturers, whose aim was to set up an investment and loan society, for the mutual benefit of local working people. Those with savings could invest them; others could then borrow, using the funds to acquire a house. Lenders would receive interest on their savings; borrowers would be charged it.

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Rules were drawn up, and a chairman, trustees and directors appointed, and office space was rented in Old Market. The society became operational early in 1853, after an announcement had appeared in the Halifax Guardian newspaper in January. Of the founders, Jonas Dearnley Taylor, a solicitor’s clerk, was the most significant figure, becoming the Society’s first Secretary, a post he was to hold for almost fifty years.

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Business was brisk from the start; people queued at the Society’s office each Friday night, eager to join the new venture. By pledging themselves to its rules and paying regular subscriptions, investors and borrowers alike became members. Those unable to make regular payments could still save their cash, but as depositors rather than members.

 

On 26th May 1853, Esau Hanson (buried here at Lister Lane) became the very first person to be granted a mortgage by the Halifax. He borrowed £121 to buy land at St. John’s Lane; coincidentally, this plot comprised part of the Halifax’s current head office site at Trinity Road.

 

Within a year of its foundation, the Society had 584 members, and a further 144 depositors. More than £9,000 had been lent, with another £2,000 agreed for homes being built.

 

The Society quickly established a successful branch network. Its head office moved first to Waterhouse Street, and before long its success enabled purpose-built smart new offices on Princess Street, opposite the Town Hall, which were opened in 1873. This structure was to be its home for the next 50 years. By 1913, with assets of more than £3 million, the Halifax Permanent was the largest building society in the UK at that time. The first office in London opened in 1924, and the first offices in Scotland in 1928.

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Halifax Equitable Benefit Building Society

When the Halifax Equitable Benefit Building Society was founded in 1871, there were two other well established societies in the town. Despite this, the new society did a lively business from the beginning. Like The Permanent, its founding committee was made up of local businessmen, and the man chosen as the Equitable’s first Secretary was Walter Common, who became the Society’s first secretary. Common had earlier been Auditor to the Halifax Permanent since 1856, and was the only man to link the two building societies at that time.

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The Halifax Equitable saw the small scale borrower as its primary market. A year after its foundation, the Society reported 652 shares on the books, and a profit of £57 1s. 6d. By 1876, its annual expenses (for salaries, stationery, agents and auditors etc.) amounted to ‘a trifle under £500.’ Walter Common The Equitable’s first offices were at 25 Waterhouse Street, but within a month, it had moved to Bank Buildings, where the secretary, clerks, auditors, and directors all shared a single room! The Society moved office on two further occasions: to George Street in 1877, and to its purpose-built head office in Silver Street, in 1898. A branch network was begun in 1873, with offices in nearby towns. Between 1897 and 1921, the Equitable’s membership increased from 3,600 to more than 23,000, while assets rose above £3 million.​

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The Wedding

In 1928 The Halifax Equitable Building Society, then the fastest growing and third largest of its kind, merged with the Halifax Permanent. The event, described as ‘the wedding’, was celebrated by the issuing of a commemorative booklet. The combined organisation was named the Halifax Building Society, and was five times larger than any other building society, with assets of £47 million. The later history of “The Halifax” is quite well known. Today it is part of Lloyds Banking Group, one of the largest UK Retail Banks.