Frank Hibberd

Bank: Westminster Bank

Place of work: Williton branch

Died: 28 May 1946

Frank Hibberd was born on 16 April 1891, the son of George Hibberd, a workhouse master, and his wife Emily. He joined the staff of Stuckey’s Banking Co at its branch in Weymouth in 1908. The bank was taken over by Parr’s Bank the following year. 

The day after Britain entered the First World War in August 1914 Hibberd volunteered for the army, joining the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was commissioned in 1916 and rose to the rank of Lieutenant by the end of the war. Also in 1916, he married Gladys Marjorie Laverton. Their first child, a son, was born in 1918 and a daughter followed in 1922.

By the time Hibberd returned to the bank after his war service, it had been through another substantial merger, becoming London County Westminster & Parr's Bank, later known more simply as Westminster Bank. He served at the bank's Clevedon and Taunton branches before being appointed manager of Williton branch in 1933. 

In his youth Hibberd was a talented hockey player, and played at various times for Dorset, Somerset and the West of England. He also enjoyed cricket, a sport he continued to play in his years at Williton, by which time his greatest hobby had become ornithology.  

Britain began to prepare in earnest for another war in the late 1930s, including establishing a network of ARP wardens. Hibberd became head warden for Williton. He had also remained on the Reserve of Officers ever since his military service in the last war, and in 1940 the War Office invited him to rejoin. He did so, returning to the Gloucestershire Regiment. He undertook various administrative duties for the Regiment in England, and was then posted to Belgium on civil affairs duties. There, he was taken ill and repatriated to England for hospital treatment. He never recovered, and died on 28 May 1946. Captain Hibberd was 55 years old. 

Frank Hibberd is commemorated on a bank war memorial at NatWest Minehead branch.