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Back to article: SAVINGS BANKS (Fr. caisses d'epargne; Ger. Sparkassen)

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SAVINGS BANKS (Fr. caisses d'epargne; Ger. Sparkassen), institutions for the purpose of receiving small deposits of money and investing them for the benefit of the depositors at compound interest. They originated in the latter part of the 18th century-a period marked by a great advance in the organization of provident habits in general (see FRIENDLY SOCIETIES). They seem, however, to have been first suggested by Daniel Defoe in 1697. The earliest institution of the kind in Europe was one established at Brunswick in 1765; it was followed in 1778 by that of Ham-burg, which still exists, in 1786 by one at Oldenburg, in 1790 by one at Loire, in 1792 by that of Basel, in 1794 by one at Geneva, which had but a short existence, and in 1796 by one at Kiel in Holstein. In Great Britain, in 1797, Jeremy Bentham revived Defoe's suggestion under the name of " Frugality Banks," and in 1799 the Rev. Joseph Smith put it in action at Wendover. This was followed in 18o1 by the addition of a savings bank to the friendly society which Mrs Priscilla Wakefield had established