The Bank of England Note: A History of Its Printing

204 Pages·1954·78.298 MB·English

by  A. D. Mackenzie

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THE
BANK OF ENGLAND
NOTE
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THE
BANI{ · OF ENGLAND NOTE
A HISTORY OF ITS PRINTING
IlY
A. D. MACKENZIE
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1953
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PUBLISHED BY
THE SYNDICS OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVEHSITY PH.ES~
London Office: Bentley House, N.W.I
American Branch: New York
Agents for Canada, India, and Pakistan: l\1acmillan
,
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Printed ln Great Britai· b T'1 C l I Pr . .
n Y ,ze ar ye · ess, Birmingham 6
Kb~ ·ea 1 "#' CAffltitxr:catWl : ri't11tr-w. ;
PREFACE
been written on the subject of the history
MUCH HAS
and activities of the Bank of England, and although in
these works due regard has been paid to the notes issued
by the Bank, no work dealing with the Bank of England
note per se has, up to the present, appeared. In the follow-
ing pages, the preparation of which has been undertaken
at the request of the Bank of England, an attempt has been
made to fill this gap.
The greater part of the material from which these pages
were compiled has been derived from the Bank's records
and those at St Luke's Printing Works. The collection of
Bank of England notes in the Issue Office of the Bank has
been consulted extensively, and has proved an invaluable
guide to the changing face of the note throughout the cen-
turies. The value of this collection is greatly enhanced by
the profuse annotations of Thomas Zwinger, who collated
and arranged these notes, and to whose work in this field
I am greatly indebted. Throughout the whole of this re-
search I received the most generous help and co-opera-
tion, and I am glad to have this opportunity of expressing
my thanks to the officials and staffs of the departments
concerned, who have spared no effort to further my in-
vestigations and make smooth my path.
Much information has been derived from the consulta-
tion of published works, a list of which will be found at the
end of this volume. Outstanding among these is The Bank
of England from Within, by W. Marston Acres, a work
which not only provides a mine of information on the
Bank in general, but also serves as a guide, by means of
V
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ri PREFACE
which the seeker after the particular may more readily fol-
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lo\v his special line of investigation. In the pursuit of the
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printed word, recourse has been had to a number of
libraries, not only the great national collections and those
of municipalities, but also the libraries of several institu-
tions and societies who have been so good as to allow me
to have access to their shelves. An abundant harvest, too,
has been gathered from the museums. Apart from its in-
dispensable library, the British Museum has contributed
greatly to the success of my research, as have also the
\Tictoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum.
I am greatly indebted, too, to a number of firms and pri-
vate individuals who took infinite pains to secure for me
information, in regard to which I had written to them.
The completed copy of this \Vork was read by Professor
R. S. Sayers, by my one-time chief, H. G. de Fraine, and by
J.
my former colleagues, S. B. Chamberlain and R. Dudin,
to each of whom I am indebted for a number of materially
helpful suggestions. To these and to the officials and staffs
of the libraries and museums concerned, as well as to the
firms and private individuals ref erred to above, I am
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I deeply grateful for the help that I have received.
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A. D.
MACKENZIE
I I London
, 1
I I September 1952
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CONTENTS
page
.
List of Plates IX
Chapter I The First Century of the Bank of
England Note I
II Notes of Other Banks 24
III The Printing Department of the
Bank of England
IV Notes for £1 and £2 and the
Inimitable Note Inquiry 47
V The Bank of England Note from
1822 to 1854 79
VI From 1855 to the First World War 108
VII St Luke's Printing Works 143
List of Works consulted 153
Appendix Printed Notes issued by the Bank
of England 156
Index 157
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LIST OF PLATES
I The earliest existing printed Bank of
England note to bearer frontispiece
£5
II Proof of a proposed note engraved
in 1694 facing page 6
III The paper mill at Sutton Courtenay,
Berkshire 8
(By courtesy of Miss J. Stebbing)
IV The copper-plate press
12
V Bere Mill, near Whitchurch, Hampshire 16
(By courtesy of Porta/,s Ltd.)
VI Joseph Bramah' s numbering and dating press
22
(By courtesy of Mr E. Bruce Ball, who has lately
presented this Press to the Science Museum)
VII Specimen note submitted by Jacob Perkins
in 1818 64
VIII Design for a note submitted by T. F. Ranson
in 1818 68
IX The Applegarth and Cowper note 70
X Applegarth and Cowper's press 72
(From a diagrammatic drawing by Edward Cowper)
XI George Cruikshank' s bank restriction note 76
XII Sketch for a note proposed in 1838 94
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1X
LIST OF PLATES
X
XIII The Na pier platen press 102
{By courtesy of the Director of the Science Museum,
South Kensington)
The bank-note printing and numbering
XIV
machine 120
{By courtesy of R. W. Munro Ltd.)
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xv St Luke's Hospital in 1812 44
(From a water-colour drawing by George Shepherd)
146
XVI St Luke's Printing Works in 1925
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