Bank of England £50 note
The Bank of England £50 note is a banknote of the pound sterling. It is the highest denomination of banknote issued for public circulation by the Bank of England; the current cotton note, first issued in 2011, bears the image of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and the images of engineer and scientist James Watt and industrialist and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton on the reverse. £50 notes were introduced by the Bank of England for the first time in 1725. The earliest notes were issued as needed to individuals; these notes were written on one side only and bore the name of the payee, the date, the signature of the issuing cashier. With the exception of the Restriction Period between 1797 and 1821, when the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars caused a bullion shortage, these notes could be exchanged in full, or in part, for an equivalent amount of gold when presented at the bank. If redeemed in part, the banknote would be signed to indicate the amount, redeemed. From 1853 printed notes replaced handwritten notes, with the declaration "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of fifty pounds" replacing the name of the payee.
This declaration remains on Bank of England banknotes to this day. A printed signature of one of three cashiers appeared on the printed notes, although this was replaced by the signature of the Chief Cashier from 1870 onwards; the ability to redeem banknotes for gold ceased in 1931 when Britain stopped using the gold standard. The £50 note ceased to be produced by the Bank of England in 1943 and did not reappear until it was reintroduced in 1981; these D series notes were predominantly olive green on both sides, with an image of Queen Elizabeth II on the front and an image of architect Christopher Wren on the back. As a security feature, this note had a metallic thread running through it, upgraded to a "windowed" thread from July 1988 onward; the thread is woven into the paper such that it forms a dashed line, yet appears as a single line when held up to the light. The series D note was replaced by the series E, beginning in 1994; this reddish note replaced Christopher Wren with John Houblon, the first governor of the Bank of England, on the reverse.
As an additional security feature, these notes had a foil patch on the front. The E revision series didn't have a £50 note; the current £50 note was introduced in 2011. It features two portraits on the reverse: engineer and scientist James Watt and industrialist and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton, along with the Whitbread Engine and the Soho Manufactory, Birmingham; the note has a number of security features in addition to the metallic thread, including motion thread, raised print, a watermark, microlettering, a see-through register, a colourful pattern that only appears under ultraviolet light. The current note is the first Bank of England banknote to feature two people on the reverse, the first Bank of England note to feature the motion thread security feature; this is an image in a broken green thread. The Bank of England has issued new £5 and £10 notes in polymer form. In October 2018, the Bank of England announced that the £50 note would be retained, with a new Series G polymer note planned to replace the Series F note at some point after 2020.
The Bank of England has a committee to consider nominations for the face of the new notes via public consultation. Peter Sands, an advisor to the British Government and former Chief Executive of Standard Chartered, has raised concern with the Bank of England over high denomination notes and their role in tax evasion, he claimed that scrapping the £50, other high denomination notes such as the CHF 1000 and $100, would reduce financial crime. Information taken from Bank of England website. Bank of England note issues Bank of England website
Bank of England £1 note
The Bank of England £1 note was a banknote of the pound sterling. After the ten shilling note was withdrawn in 1970 it became the smallest denomination note issued by the Bank of England; the one pound note was issued by the Bank of England for the first time in 1797 and continued to be printed until 1984. The note was withdrawn in 1988 in favour of the one pound coin. One pound notes were introduced by the Bank of England for the first time in 1797, following gold shortages caused by the French Revolutionary Wars; the earliest notes were handwritten, were issued as needed to individuals. These notes were written on one side only and bore the name of the payee, the date, the signature of the issuing cashier. Between 1797 and 1821 the lack of bullion meant that banks would not exchange banknotes for gold, but after the end of the Napoleonic Wars the shortage was alleviated such that notes could be exchanged for an equivalent amount of gold when presented at the bank. One pound notes were replaced by gold sovereigns.
During the First World War the British Government wanted to maintain its stocks of gold and so banks were ordered to again stop exchanging any and all denominations of banknotes for gold. Gold sovereigns were replaced by one pound notes issued by the Treasury; these notes were nicknamed "Bradburys" because of the prominent signature of Sir John Bradbury, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury displayed on the notes. Britain returned to the gold standard in 1925, although the Bank of England was only obliged to exchange notes for gold in multiples of 400 troy ounces or more; the responsibility for the printing of one pound notes was transferred to the Bank of England in 1928, the ability to redeem banknotes for gold ceased in 1931 when Britain stopped using the gold standard. The Bank of England's first post-World War I one pound notes were two-sided green notes which were printed – not handwritten; the name of the payee was replaced by the declaration "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of one pound".
This declaration remains on Bank of England banknotes to this day. This signature of the issuing cashier was replaced by the printed signature of the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England. In 1940, following the outbreak of the Second World War, one pound notes were issued in a new blue-orange colour scheme to deter counterfeiters, although the design remained the same. At the same time, metal thread running the paper was introduced as a security feature. After the war one pound notes were issued in their original green colour; the earliest post-World War II notes did not have the metallic thread security feature, but those issued from September 1948 onward did. A new design for one pound notes was introduced in 1960, with the old notes ceasing to be legal tender in 1962; these new series C notes were narrower, were the first one-pound notes to feature a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front. The reverse design incorporated the logo of the Bank of England. Series C notes were replaced by the series D notes from 1978 onward.
These smaller notes featured an new design with Queen Elizabeth II on the front and scientist Isaac Newton on the back. The note was redesigned in 1981 to feature brighter background colours. Following a consultation with retailers and other groups it was announced on 31 July 1981 that the one pound note would be replaced by a one pound coin. Part of the reason for this change was that notes, on average, lasted only nine months in general circulation, while coins could last forty years or more; the government believed that the growing vending industry would benefit from the introduction of a one-pound coin. The new cupro-nickel coin was introduced on 21 April 1983 and the one pound note ceased to be legal tender on 11 March 1988. Bank of England £1 notes are still found in circulation in Scotland, alongside Royal Bank of Scotland £1 notes; this is because Scotland has no concept of Legal Tender, any Sterling bank note, of any age, may be used provided the trader is content to accept it. The Bank of England will exchange old £1 notes for their face value in perpetuity.
Information taken from Bank of England website. Bank of England note issues Bank of England website
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist known for her six major novels, which interpret and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security, her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her use of biting irony, along with her realism and social commentary, have long earned her acclaim among critics and popular audiences alike. With the publications of Sense and Sensibility and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma, she achieved success as a published writer, she wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, began another titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, a short epistolary novel Lady Susan, another unfinished novel, The Watsons.
Her six full-length novels have been out of print, although they were published anonymously and brought her moderate success and little fame during her lifetime. A significant transition in her posthumous reputation occurred in 1833, when her novels were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series, illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering, sold as a set, they gained wider acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and uneventful life to an eager audience. Austen has inspired a large number of literary anthologies, her novels have inspired many films, from 1940's Pride and Prejudice to more recent productions like Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Pride & Prejudice, Love & Friendship. There is little biographical information about Jane Austen's life except the few letters that survive and the biographical notes her family members wrote. During her lifetime, Austen may have written as many as 3,000 letters.
Many of the letters were written to Austen's older sister Cassandra, who in 1843 burned the greater part of them and cut pieces out of those she kept. Ostensibly, Cassandra destroyed or censored her sister's letters to prevent their falling into the hands of relatives and ensuring that "younger nieces did not read any of Jane Austen's sometimes acid or forthright comments on neighbours or family members". Cassandra believed that in the interest of tact and Jane's penchant for forthrightness, these details should be destroyed; the paucity of record of Austen's life leaves modern biographers little with. The situation was compounded as successive generations of the family expunged and sanitised the opaque details of Austen's biography; the heirs of Jane's brother, Admiral Francis Austen, destroyed more letters. The legend the family and relatives created reflects their biases in favour of "good quiet Aunt Jane", portraying a woman whose domestic situation was happy and whose family was the mainstay of her life.
Austen scholar Jan Fergus explains that modern biographies tend to include details excised from the letters and family biographical materials, but that the challenge is to avoid the polarising view that Austen experienced periods of deep unhappiness and was "an embittered, disappointed woman trapped in a unpleasant family". Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, on 16 December 1775, she was born a month than her parents expected. He added that her arrival was welcome as "a future companion to her sister"; the winter of 1776 was harsh and it was not until 5 April that she was baptised at the local church with the single name Jane. For much of Jane's life, her father, George Austen, served as the rector of the Anglican parishes at Steventon and at nearby Deane, he came from an old and wealthy family of wool merchants. Over the centuries as each generation of eldest sons received inheritances, their wealth was consolidated, George's branch of the family fell into poverty, he and his two sisters had to be taken in by relatives.
His sister Philadelphia went to India to find a husband and George entered St John's College, Oxford on a fellowship, where he most met Cassandra Leigh. She came from the prominent Leigh family, her eldest brother James inherited a fortune and large estate from his great-aunt Perrot, with the only condition that he change his name to Leigh-Perrot. George and Cassandra exchanged miniatures in 1763 and were engaged around that time. George received the living for the Steventon parish from the wealthy husband of his second cousin, Thomas Knight, who owned Steventon and its associated farms, one of which the Austen family rented to live in. Two months after Cassandra's father died, they married on 26 April 1764 at St Swithin's Church in Bath, by licence, in a simple ceremony, they left for Hampshire the same day. Their income was modest, with George's small per annum living.
Clydesdale Bank
Clydesdale Bank plc is a commercial bank in Scotland. Formed in Glasgow in 1838, it is the smallest of the three Scottish banks. Independent until it was purchased by Midland Bank in 1920, it formed part of the National Australia Bank Group between 1987 and 2016. Clydesdale Bank was divested from National Australia Bank in early 2016 and its holding company CYBG plc, trades on the London and Sydney stock exchanges. CYBG plc's other banking business, Yorkshire Bank operates as a trading division of Clydesdale Bank plc under its banking licence. In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank's holding company CYBG would acquire Virgin Money for £1.7 billion in an all-stock deal, that the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank brands would be phased out in favour of retaining Virgin's brand. As with two other Scottish banks, the Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank retains the right to issue its own banknotes. In March 1838, an advertisement appeared for a new joint stock banking company in Glasgow, the Clydesdale Banking Company.
It was to be "chiefly a local bank – having few branches – but correspondents everywhere" though it was conceded that a branch in Edinburgh would be necessary. The Bank duly opened for business in both cities in May 1838. Checkland described the Bank as the creation of "a group of Glasgow businessmen of middling order, liberal radicals…who were active in the government and charities of the city."The driving figure behind the formation of the Bank was James Lumsden, a stationer by business, a councillor, police commissioner and Lord Provost of Glasgow. Another member of the founding committee, Henry Brock, became the Bank's first manager. Brock came of a merchant family, was an accountant and one of the founders of the Glasgow Savings Bank. Despite the declaration in the advertisement, in the year after formation the Bank opened three Glasgow branches as well as its first country branches in Campbeltown and Falkirk; these were supplemented by the acquisition of the Greenock Union Bank. Following the purchase of the Greenock Union, there was little change in the structure of the Bank and there were still only 13 branches in 1857.
In that year, Clydesdale became the first Scottish bank to produce a printed balance sheet, it showed assets of £2.7 million and net profits of £70,000. The public disclosure of its strength stood it in good stead, for only months the Western Bank of Scotland closed its doors, followed the next day by the first closure of the City of Glasgow Bank. Clydesdale gained not only customers but 13 branches from the Western. A few months came the acquisition of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Bank, weakened by the same economic disturbances; the Edinburgh & Leith Bank, as it was had been formed in 1838 "for the benefit of the'industrious middle classes'" and it had bought the Dumfries-based Southern Bank of Scotland in 1842 and the Glasgow Joint Stock Bank in 1844, the latter leading to the change of name to Edinburgh & Glasgow Bank. Poor lending in the 1845–47 period to Australia, dogged the Bank for the next ten years and it was taken over by the Clydesdale for a nil consideration. Five years in 1863, Clydesdale acquired the more successful Eastern Bank of Scotland, like Clydesdale founded in 1838.
Based in Dundee it was to have one in Dundee, the other Edinburgh. Before opening for business it acquired the Dundee Commercial Bank to serve as its Dundee office. Difficulties with the two boards working together led to the Edinburgh bank being wound up and the Eastern became an Dundee bank. Much of the growth in the Bank's network had come from acquisitions and the management remained cautious regarding direct branch expansion. However, in 1865, a committee was formed to look at prospects and 16 branches were opened in two years. In 1874 the Clydesdale went south of the border and opened three branches in Cumberland but this was seen as following existing trade rather than making a specific attempt to enter the English market. Indeed, Clydesdale was one of the last Scottish banks to acquire a London office. In 1878, the City of Glasgow Bank failed for the second time, leading again to an increase in Clydesdale's deposits and the acquisition of nine of the Glasgow branches; the scale of the collapse led to further debate on desirability of limited liability and, following legislation in 1879, Clydesdale Bank registered as a limited liability company in 1882.
Reid described the period 1890–1914 as "the tranquil years", but that did not preclude steady expansion of the branch network – from 92 to 153. That was to mark the end of Clydesdale's independent existence. In 1917 the Bank was approached by London City and Midland and, although resisted, Clydesdale Bank was sold in 1920. However, it continued to operate independently and was always referred to as an affiliate, not a subsidiary; the Glasgow banks suffered more than others in the depressed economy of the inter-war period and from being the largest lender in Scotland in 1920, it fell to fifth place by 1939. Despite this, the Bank continued to open branches in areas enjoying export growth, the network increased from 158 in 1919 to 205 in 1939. Midland had acquired the North of Scotland Bank in 1923 but the Aberdeen management had fiercely resisted any attempt to merge with Clydesdale. However, the changed competitive market after the Second World War meant that the two banks co
Banknotes of the pound sterling
Sterling banknotes are the banknotes in circulation in the United Kingdom and its related territories, denominated in pounds sterling. Sterling banknotes are official currency in the United Kingdom, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Tristan da Cunha in St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. One pound is equivalent to 100 pence. Three British Overseas Territories have currencies called pounds which are at par with the pound sterling. In most countries of the world the issue of banknotes is handled by a single central bank or government, but in the United Kingdom seven retail banks have the right to print their own banknotes in addition to the Bank of England; the arrangements in the UK are unusual, but comparable systems are used in Hong Kong and Macao, where three and two banks issue their own banknotes in addition to their respective governments. The Bank of England does act as a central bank in that it has a monopoly on issuing banknotes in England and Wales, regulates the issues of banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Versions of the pound sterling issued by Crown Dependencies and other areas are regulated only by local governments and not the Bank of England. Until the middle of the 19th century owned banks in Great Britain and Ireland were free to issue their own banknotes. Paper currency issued by a wide range of provincial and town banking companies in England, Wales and Ireland circulated as a means of payment; as gold shortages affected the supply of money, note-issuing powers of the banks were restricted by various Acts of Parliament, until the Bank Charter Act 1844 gave exclusive note-issuing powers to the central Bank of England. Under the Act, no new banks could start issuing notes; the last private English banknotes were issued in 1921 by Fox and Company, a Somerset bank. However, some of the monopoly provisions of the Bank Charter Act only applied to Wales; the Bank Notes Act was passed the following year, to this day, three retail banks retain the right to issue their own sterling banknotes in Scotland, four in Northern Ireland.
Notes issued in excess of the value of notes outstanding in 1844 must be backed up by an equivalent value of Bank of England notes. Following the partition of Ireland, the Irish Free State created an Irish pound in 1928; the issue of banknotes for the Irish pound fell under the authority of the Currency Commission of the Republic of Ireland, which set about replacing the private banknotes with a single Consolidated Banknote Issue in 1928. In 1928 a Westminster Act of Parliament reduced the fiduciary limit for Irish banknotes circulating in Northern Ireland to take account of the reduced size of the territory concerned. Elizabeth II was not the first British monarch to have her face on UK banknotes. George II, George III and George IV appeared on early Royal Bank of Scotland notes and George V appeared on 10 shilling and 1 pound notes issued by the British Treasury between 1914 and 1928. However, prior to the issue of its Series C banknotes in 1960, Bank of England banknotes did not depict the monarch.
Today, notes issued by Northern Irish banks do not depict the monarch. The monarch is depicted on banknotes issued by the Crown dependencies and on some of those issued by overseas territories; the following events and Acts of Parliament affected the course of banknote history in Great Britain and Ireland: The wide variety of sterling notes in circulation means that acceptance of different pound sterling banknotes varies. Their acceptance may depend on the experience and understanding of individual retailers, it is important to understand the idea of "legal tender", misunderstood; the assumption that all sterling notes are legitimate and of equal value, are accepted by merchants anywhere, has become a tourism headache in some parts of the UK. In summary, the various banknotes are used as follows: Bank of England banknotes Most sterling notes are issued by the Bank of England; these are legal tender in England and Wales, are always accepted by traders throughout the UK. Bank of England notes are accepted in the Overseas Territories which are at parity with sterling.
In Gibraltar, there are examples of pairs of automatic cash dispensers placed together, one stocked with Bank of England notes, the other with local ones. Scottish banknotes These are the recognised currency in Scotland, although they are not legal tender, they are always accepted by traders in Scotland, are accepted in other parts of the United Kingdom. However, some outside Scotland are unfamiliar with the notes and they are sometimes refused. Institutions such as clearing banks, building societies and the Post Office will accept Scottish bank notes. Branches of the Scottish note-issuing banks situated in England dispense Bank of England notes and are not permitted to dispense their own notes from those branches. Modern Scottish banknotes are denominated in pounds sterling, have the same value as Bank of England notes. Northern Irish banknotes Banknotes issued by Northern Irish banks have the same legal status as Scottish banknotes in that they are promissory notes issued in pounds sterling and may be used for cash transactions anywhere in the United Kingdom.
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Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global conflict fought between 1756 and 1763. It involved every European great power of the time and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa and the Philippines; the conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France, the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Spain, the Swedish Empire on the other. Meanwhile, in India, some regional polities within the fragmented Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, tried to crush a British attempt to conquer Bengal; the war's extent has led some historians to describe it as World War Zero, similar in scale to other world wars. Although Anglo-French skirmishes over their American colonies had begun with what became the French and Indian War in 1754, the large-scale conflict that drew in most of the European powers was centered on Austria's desire to recover Silesia from the Prussians. Seeing the opportunity to curtail Britain's and Prussia's ever-growing might and Austria put aside their ancient rivalry to form a grand coalition of their own, bringing most of the other European powers to their side.
Faced with this sudden turn of events, Britain aligned itself with Prussia, in a series of political manoeuvres known as the Diplomatic Revolution. However, French efforts ended in failure when the Anglo-Prussian coalition prevailed, Britain's rise as among the world's predominant powers destroyed France's supremacy in Europe, thus altering the European balance of power. Conflict between Great Britain and France broke out in 1754–1756 when the British attacked disputed French positions in North America. Hostilities were heightened when a British unit led by a 22 year old Lt. Colonel George Washington ambushed a small French force at the Battle of Jumonville Glen on 28 May 1754; the conflict exploded across the colonial boundaries and extended to the seizure of hundreds of French merchant ships at sea. Meanwhile, rising power Prussia was struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the major powers "switched partners". Realising that war was imminent, Prussia pre-emptively struck Saxony and overran it.
The result caused uproar across Europe. Because of Austria's alliance with France to recapture Silesia, lost in the War of the Austrian Succession, Prussia formed an alliance with Britain. Reluctantly, by following the imperial diet, which declared war on Prussia on 17 January 1757, most of the states of the empire joined Austria's cause; the Anglo-Prussian alliance was joined by smaller German states. Sweden, seeking to regain Pomerania joined the coalition, seeing its chance when all the major powers of Europe opposed Prussia. Spain, bound by the Pacte de Famille, intervened on behalf of France and together they launched an utterly unsuccessful invasion of Portugal in 1762; the Russian Empire was aligned with Austria, fearing Prussia's ambition on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but switched sides upon the succession of Tsar Peter III in 1762. Many middle and small powers in Europe, as in the previous wars, tried to steer clear away from the escalating conflict though they had interests in the conflict or with the belligerents.
Denmark–Norway, for instance, was close to being dragged into the war on France's side when Peter III became Russian emperor and switched sides. The Dutch Republic, a long-time British ally, kept its neutrality intact, fearing the odds against Britain and Prussia fighting the great powers of Europe, tried to prevent Britain's domination in India. Naples-Sicily, Savoy, although sided with the Franco-Spanish alliance, declined to join the coalition under fear of British naval power; the taxation needed for war caused the Russian people considerable hardship, being added to the taxation of salt and alcohol begun by Empress Elizabeth in 1759 to complete her addition to the Winter Palace. Like Sweden, Russia concluded a separate peace with Prussia; the war ended with the Treaty of Paris between France and Great Britain and the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Saxony and Prussia, in 1763. The war was successful for Great Britain, which gained the bulk of New France in North America, Spanish Florida, some individual Caribbean islands in the West Indies, the colony of Senegal on the West African coast, superiority over the French trading outposts on the Indian subcontinent.
The Native American tribes were excluded from the settlement. In Europe, the war began disastrously for Prussia, but with a combination of good luck and successful strategy, King Frederick the Great managed to retrieve the Prussian position and retain the status quo ante bellum. Prussia emerged as a new European great power. Although Austria failed to retrieve the territory of Silesia from Prussia, its military prowess was noted by the other powers; the involvement of Portugal and Sweden did not return them to their former status as great powers. France was deprived of many of it
