Parr's Bank Limited was a bank that existed from 1782 to 1918. It was founded as Parr & Co. in Warrington, then in the county of Lancashire in the United Kingdom. In 1918 it was acquired by London County and Westminster Bank, and it was thus one of the predecessors of NatWest Group. Writing in 1905, William Howarth described Parr's as "one of the great amalgamating banks in the country" and "a power in the financial world". The bank's history dates back to the late eighteenth century, with a possible starting date of 1782. The first partnership was with Joseph Parr, a sugar boiler, his brother-in-law Matthew Lyon, and Walter Kerfoot, a solicitor. Partnership names changed and the firm was variously known as Parr & Co, and Parr, Lyon; more colloquially it was known as The Warrington Bank. Parr's remained essentially a local bank with offices in Warrington, Runcorn and St Helens until 1865 when it became a joint-stock bank under the name Parr's Banking Company. Helped by a series of acquisitions, including the National Bank of Liverpool, Parr's built up its presence in Cheshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire; by 1890 there were 22 branches and 21 sub-branches. The bank's most important strategic move came in 1891 when it purchased the small London bank of Fuller, Banbury, Nix & Co. This gave Parr's a seat on the London Bankers' Clearing House and, in contrast to the nearby Bank of Liverpool it immediately moved the head office down to London. With Fuller giving the bank an initial London presence, the substance was provided by the acquisition of the Alliance Bank in 1892. The Alliance Bank had emerged from the financial reconstruction which had seen it lose its Liverpool and Manchester offices and now had 12 branches in London; in recognition of Alliance's importance the name of the bank was changed to Parr's Banking Company and the Alliance Bank. Other smaller London banks were acquired and in 1896 it bought the Consolidated Bank.
