History Forum / General / British History / August 2006

Running cash notes - receipts for cash deposited with goldsmiths, date back
to the 16th century. Some were endorsed to pay to the bearer, rather than in
the name of the depositor, which allowed them to be used in the manner of
paper currency. When the Bank of England was founded in 1694, it too issued
notes made payable to the bearer. Following the recoinage of 1696, it was
decided that the minimum value of a note would be £50, which meant that most
people never saw one.

The notes were hand written until 1725, when the Bank of England started to
issue part printed notes. These still needed to be completed with the amount
deposited, the name of the payee and the signature of the cashier. By 1745,
part printed notes were being issued in fixed denominations, ranging from
£20 to £1,000. The first fully printed notes appeared in 1855.

Colin Bignell