Silver teapot, 1912, inscribed 'The New Court Tea Room from L Davidson'. It was most likely a gift from either a departing or retiring clerk.
A New Court clerk
Within Edwardian society, bank clerks held a particularly privileged position. Employees had to be of good character, and clerks had to demonstrate competence in arithmetic, bookkeeping, and penmanship. Until just after the First World War, the whole staff was given lunch in the Clerk’s Dining Room.
Although women did not enter the ranks of the City in great numbers until the 1920s and 1930s, in the employment of women, N M Rothschild & Sons led the way, employing 'lady clerks' well before this date. Most female employees were unmarried, and strictly segregated from their male colleagues; they were housed in offices at the top of the building, and a plan of New Court from the 1920s shows a dividing wall between the 'Male Clerks' and 'Women Clerks' Dining Rooms.
