The Bank of Scotland, Britain’s oldest commended bank, celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1995. This text covers the history of the Bank, from direct political factional fighting in the 17th and 18th centuries, through the Jacobite troubles, financial crises and the Industrial Revolution, to the Bank’s often troubled history in the early 20th following its enforced holding of government securities. It also examines the post-war years, when the Bank made determined attempts to support steel, shipbuilding and the oil industry, as well as becoming involved in the work of the NWS Bank, the finance-house subsidiary.