Fascinating history of the only remaining 'private' private bank in London Of the many family banks founded in Restoration England, Hoare's Bank is the only one that continues - by adapting to the new circumstances of every generation - as an independent partnership. Three centuries of unaltered ownership provide an engrossing portrait of the world that shaped both it and the Hoare family. As the family became identified with the bank which Richard Hoare founded in 1672, the lives of each generation became interwoven with the institution. Emerging from commonplace beginnings under the control of an assiduous and ambitious man, it developed during the 18th century into an institution with a character and connections that were aristocratic, the family building Stourhead and laying out its world-famous gardens. With success and wealth came fragmentation as the outside world brought distraction and the size of the family brought rivalry.