On Thursday, August 13, 1874, the Westmoreland Building Society held its first Directors’ Meeting. The Reverend Henry Clarke, Founder and first Chairman, presided. Seventy years later in 1944, the Society entered a period of expansion by absorbing the Manchester Mutual Benefit Society, building new offices in Savanna-la-Mar and establishing branches in Santa Cruz, Mandeville, May Pen and Kingston, linking them all by radio-telephone.

The Westmoreland Building Society stands as a pioneer in Building Society mergers in Jamaica beginning with its merger with the Manchester Mutual, and followed by its association with the Central Building Society in Christiana. By this, the Society was given the confidence and experience to be party to the mergers, which took place in December 1970, uniting the St. James Benefit, the St. Ann Benefit and the Brown’s Town Benefit Building Societies.

The St. James Benefit Building Society, founded in 1874 but incorporated in 1901, began modestly as a penny savings bank for members of the congregation of the Reverend Cork, its founder.