The history of the Halifax is rooted in the building society movement that developed in towns all over northern Britain at the time of the industrial revolution. The mills and factories that sprang up attracted workers from the surrounding farmland eager to join the new prosperity, only to face a shortage of housing.

Mills and factories Building societies were formed by small groups of craftsmen and other white-collar workers who saved regularly to build up a fund that was used to buy land, then to build houses. As each house was completed, the group held a ballot to decide which member should occupy it. Each continued to pay his subscriptions until all were housed and the group's activities then ceased, its objectives accomplished. These groups were called 'terminating societies' and were fairly quickly superseded by a modified and more permanent organisation.

The 'permanent' societies came into being as soon as it was found that people who already owned their own homes and who had spare money to invest were willing, in return for regular payments of interest, to lend their funds to those who needed to borrow money in order to buy a home.

One of the early 'permanent' societies was formed in Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1853 and was known, initially, as The Halifax Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society.

The origins of the Halifax go back to 1852 when a small group of men met in the Oak Room of the Old Cock Inn in Halifax and discussed the establishment of a permanent building and investment society.

Later the Society operated from a room over a shop in Halifax's Old Market, rented for £10 a year. Meetings were minuted in an ordinary school exercise book.

For 85 years the Society was managed successively by only two men, Jonas Dearnley Taylor and Enoch Hill, who later received a knighthood for his work.

This stability, together with the decision to open branches (taken in the first year of the Society's existence), was crucial to determining the future development of the Halifax Permanent.

In 1913 it was established as the biggest building society in the UK.

In 1928, a merger between the Permanent and the Halifax Equitable (then the second largest building society in the country) produced the Halifax Building Society, five times larger than its nearest rival.

The coming together of the Halifax and the Leeds Permanent Building Society, then the fifth largest building society, on 1st August 1995 merged two strong societies and has resulted in an enlarged and strengthened financial organisation with assets currently at £154 billion.

On 31st December 1996, Clerical Medical, the experienced fund managers, became part of the Halifax Group.

On 2nd June 1997 the Halifax - then the nation's number one building society - converted to plc status and was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company, valued at £18 billion at the time of conversion, issued free shares to some 7.6 million qualifying borrowing and saving members. This represented the largest single extension of private share ownership ever seen in the UK. The immense exercise involved checking some 32m customer records, mailing 75m items to members, processing more than 6.8m valid votes and a helpline operation handling 6m telephone calls. Its success clearly demonstrated the Halifax's ability to manage change.

On 4th May 2001, the Boards of Bank of Scotland and Halifax announced that they had agreed to merge to create the Lloyds Banking Group. And, within four months, on the 10th September the merger became effective.