The Portman Building Society was a mutual building society in the United Kingdom, providing mortgages and savings accounts to consumers and offering loans to commercial enterprises. Its head office was in Bournemouth and its administration centre in Wolverhampton. Portman merged with the Nationwide Building Society in August 2007, at which time it was the third largest building society in the UK and the largest regional building society in the south of England, with 154 branches and assets exceeding £15 billion. History 1846–1900: Origins Portman Chapel Temperance Permanent Benefit Building Society was founded just around the corner from Manchester Square, London in 1881. Many of the founding members of the Society were also members of the Portman Chapel in nearby Baker Street, and this link was reinforced by using an image of the Chapel on the Society's crest. The first members to the Society included plumbers, booksellers' assistants and Solicitors' clerks. By 1883, after 2 years in operation, the assets of the Society had multiplied more than fivefold to £30,927. 5s. 6d. This led the Society to invest in a premise of its own at 109 Crawford Street, London. By the 10th Annual report in 1890 the total assets of the Society had grown to £109,340. By 1900 the Society had advanced nearly half a million pounds in mortgages and its total assets had risen to £200,000. 1900–1930: Early growth and survival through World War 1 In 1902 the Society decided to move its offices to 415 Oxford Street as this was closer to Bond Street Station on the Central London Railway. By 1909 the Society had advanced £1 million in mortgages and decided to abbreviate its name to Portman Building Society. Portman continued to lend at a high level during the first year of World War 1 but, like many other building societies, it went into limbo for the duration of the war and some years after. It wasn't until 1929 and the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash, that an inflow of funds came into the Society to increase its share capital by 25% to £1.5 million. 1930–1950: Connection with the West Country, World War 2 and new head office By 1938 Portman had entered a joint agency with the Bridgewater and West of England Permanent Building Society, generating a regular flow of business from the West Country. The Second World War disrupted normal business and by the end