Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Etching portrait of Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), founder of Coutts Bank. (Coutts owed his success as a banker to his discretion and his understanding of human nature, which inspired trust and affection; and to his organizing and punctilious business practices, which brought financial gain. Some of the most influential aristocrats were Coutts's customers, but his greatest pride was in royal patronage. George III became a customer of the Coutts brothers at the beginning of his reign, through the influence of his prime minister and keeper of the privy purse, the earl of Bute, who had known their father, Provost Coutts. So began the lasting connection between Coutts and Co. and the royal family.) Etching 1790 By: William Beecheyafter: William BeecheyPublished: [18--?]