John Peter Hilton (died July 25th 1957; aged 76)

The Bank's first General Manager was born at Castleton, Lancashire and began his working career with a firm of textile machinists at Rochdale. His next employer (the Yorkshire Penny Bank) gave him experience of savings bank work, and his next (assistant clerk at the Rochdale Board of Guardians) introduced him to local government employment. In 1911, he moved to the Midlands when he took up the position of Deputy Clerk at the West Bromwich Board of Guardians. Five years later, J P Hilton was appointed Manager of the temporary Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank. Subsequently, in 1919, Mr Hilton became the General Manager of the BMB - a position he held until his retirement in 1946. Over those 27 years, the Bank attracted over 580,000 accounts with deposits in excess of £70 million held at 68 branches. In 1934, Mr Hilton was awarded the CBE; a dinner was held in his honour at the recently opened Broad Street Head Office, and a portrait of him was hung in that building's Assembly Room. 'JP' wrote two books: The Boarding Out of Poor Law Children and Britain's First Municipal Savings Bank. Below: (left) J P Hilton arrives for the opening of Quinton branch, September 20th 1937 (right) HRH The Prince George greets the General Manager at the opening of the Broad Street Head Office, November 27th 1933