Catalog
1 Pound White, 1797 Issue
| Issuer | Bank of England |
|---|---|
| Year | 1797 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black letterpress on white paper, with a vignette of Britannia seated at upper left. The note incorporates handwritten elements including the date, serial number, and the signing Cashier's name, reflecting the partially manuscript production method characteristic of early Bank of England issues. |
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| Obverse lettering | I Promise to pay to [Mr H Newland] or bearer on Demand the sum of One Pound London the [2] day of [March] 17[97] For the Gov:r and Comp.a of the £ONE BANK of ENGLAND |
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| Comments |
The Bank of England had never issued a £1 note before 1797. The trigger was the Restriction Period, which began in February of that year when a French landing in Wales — the last foreign invasion of mainland Britain — sparked a bank run severe enough that the government suspended convertibility of paper to gold. Overnight, the Bank needed small-denomination notes to substitute for the coin the public was hoarding.
These early £1 notes were hand-signed, hand-dated, and hand-numbered by Bank cashiers — a laborious process that became increasingly untenable as production volumes climbed. The suspension lasted until 1821, far longer than anyone anticipated in 1797.