Percy Baly

Bank: National Provincial Bank of England

Place of work: London Kensington High Street branch

Died: 15 November 1916

Percy Randolph Baly was born on 26 September 1895, the son of Charles Joseph Baly, a bank clerk. He was educated at Ealing Grammar School.

In January 1912, when Baly was 16 years old, he went to work for National Provincial Bank of England, where his father and elder brother already worked. He started as an apprentice in its London Kensington High Street branch, and in 1914 passed the preliminary examination of the Institute of Bankers. The outbreak of the First World War placed new demands on apprentices such as Baly, and in December that year his manager remarked to head office, 'he has done excellent work...having been called upon to do senior clerk's work most of the time.'

Baly subsequently joined the army. At the time of his death in 1916 he was serving as a Lance Corporal in the Honourable Artillery Company. He died on 15 November 1916, during the Battle of the Ancre. He was 21 years old.

Percy Baly is commemorated on a bank war memorial held at NatWest Group Archives.