This joint-stock bank was established in Manchester in 1836 as Manchester & Salford Bank by a group of promoters keen to take advantage of recent legislation allowing the formation of joint-stock banks outside London. The bank had up to 15 directors and the issued capital was £1m, of which £252,100 was paid up by December 1836.

From the late 1850s, the bank expanded rapidly, with branches opened in neighbouring towns and the acquisition of local rival banking firms. In 1871, Manchester & Salford Bank was incorporated and ten years later was registered as a limited liability company. By 1890, the bank had 47 branches and had taken over its London agent, Williams, Deacon & Co. At this point, the bank renamed itself Williams, Deacon and Manchester & Salford Bank. The name changed to Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd in 1901.

The bank continued to expand in the first quarter of the 20th century and, in 1930, the Royal Bank of Scotland purchased all of the shares in Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd to establish its branch network in England. The bank continued to trade under its own name until 1970, when it merged with Glyn Mills & Co and the National Bank to form Williams and Glyn's Bank.