Ipswich Building Society

The Ipswich Building Society is a UK building society based in Ipswich, Suffolk. It is a member of the Building Societies Association. It was formed in 1975 by the merger of the Ipswich & District Building Society and the Ipswich & Suffolk Building Society.[1]

Ipswich Building Society
Building Society (Mutual)
IndustryBanking and Financial Services
Founded1849
HeadquartersIpswich, England, UK
Number of locations
9
ProductsSavings, Mortgages, Investments, Insurance
Total assets£584 million GBP (2017), 3.1% on 2016
Number of employees
c. 130
Websitewww.ibs.co.uk

The Ipswich & Suffolk Building Society originated in the Ipswich and Suffolk Freehold Land Society, founded in December 1849. The FLS bought up land they divided up into plots that were big enough to qualify for the 40 shilling franchise that gave people the right to vote. It registered as the Ipswich and Suffolk Permanent Benefit Building Society in 1886 to provide mortgages for people buying land through the FLS.[2]

History

Ipswich & Suffolk Building Society

The Ipswich & Suffolk Building Society originated in 1849 as part of the forty-shilling freeholders movement, a project which aimed to make home ownership an option for ordinary people, rather than just the landed elite.[3] Initially called the Ipswich & Suffolk Freehold Land Society, its first land acquisition was the Cauldwell Hall Estate, which it divided into 282 plots, selling each to a society member for £23, following a ballot. It then made similar acquisitions and sales in various towns across Suffolk.[4] From 1868 the society started purchasing houses in addition to buying land,[3] its first properties being located on Lancaster Road in Ipswich which it described "high quality, 2-bedroom, workman's houses".[5]

Ipswich & District Building Society

The Ipswich & District Building Society was established in 1875 as a Starr-Bowkett Society. It held an inauguration meeting held at the Ipswich Lecture Hall, featuring a speech by Richard B. Starr, one of the architects of the Starr-Bowkett model. Starr stated that the society was not intended to be a rival to other building societies in the area, but to offer a new model of financial assistance for working-class people.[6]

Merger

The Ipswich & Suffolk and the Ipswich & District merged in 1975, with the new entity trading simply as the Ipswich Building Society, a name it retains today.[3] In 2004, after almost ninety years based in Upper Brook Stret, Ipswich, the society moved its headquarters to a new venue at the Ransomes Europark. The old headquarters was retained as a branch, however. By 2011, the society had reached 65,000 members with assets of more than £50,000.[7]

In 2020, the Ipswich Building Society launched a proposal for a further rename, to the Suffolk Building Society. It is consulting on the plans and will put it to a vote at the annual general meeting, with a view to implementing the change later in the year.[8]

Branches

As of 2020, the Ipswich Building Society has nine branches in locations across Suffolk. There are two in Ipswich itself, as well as locations in Hadleigh, Aldeburgh, Halesworth, Haverhill, Saxmundham, Woodbridge, and Sudbury.[9]

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References
  1. Building Societies Association. "Mergers & Name Changes" (PDF).
  2. Marston, James. "Track your house through time". Ipswich Star. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  3. "The Ipswich Building Society in Halesworth – Halesworth and District Museum".
  4. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qWLNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT133 p133 to 135
  5. "Ipswich Historic Lettering: Ipswich Freehold Land Society". www.ipswich-lettering.co.uk.
  6. "162nd Starr-Bowkett Ipswich and District Building Society". The Ipswich Journal - Saturday. 16 January 1875. p. 6.
  7. "Our Timeline". Ipswich Building Society. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  8. "Introducing Suffolk Building Society". Ipswich Building Society. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  9. "Our Branches", Ipswich Building Society, retrieved 8 March 2020
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