The Lloyds (Wrexham) Bank was established in Wrexham in 1785 by Richard Lloyd, flannel merchant. His flannel business in Chester Street prospered to such an extent that in 1785 he was able to establish the Wrexham Bank and the following year he acquired the Bryn Estyn Estate. Following his death in 1814, his second son, Richard Myddleton Massie Lloyd (usually known as R. M. Lloyd), took over the banking business. As a banker, R. M. Lloyd enjoyed the unbounded confidence of the inhabitants of Wrexham and was treasurer for practically all the local Friendly Societies. R. M. Lloyd was the only banker in north Wales who compounded with the Stamp Office for the stamp duty on bank notes. Up to 1844 he issued his own notes and although by the Bank Act of that year he could have continued to do so up to a value of £4,464, from then on he used Bank of England notes. The closure of Lloyd's main rival, Kenrick's Bank, in December 1848 caused a run on R. M Lloyd's bank and, much to the consternation of the local inhabitants Lloyds finally closed its doors on 10 January 1849.