Founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Birmingham. Expanded to become the London City and Midland Bank in 1891, and Midland Bank Ltd in 1923. In 1992, it was taken over by HSBC who had phased out the Midland Bank name by June 1999.
It was the 1891 acquisition of the Central Bank of London which gave Midland a seat in the Bankers Clearing House.
In 1965 the bank introduced its logo of a golden griffin surrounded by golden coins. The Midland Bank arms have one griffin and one dragon but no stag or lightening rods so we cannot explain all of the Lombard Street sculpture.
