100 Pounds

Waterlow & Sons printed this series through a period when the Irish pound was pegged at parity with sterling — a deliberate policy choice that made the Central Bank's high-denomination notes functionally interchangeable with Bank of England equivalents in cross-border transactions, while remaining a distinct legal instrument. The 100 Pound note saw almost no retail circulation; at a time when the average industrial wage in Ireland was well under £10 per week, these moved between banks and commercial institutions rather than through ordinary hands.

The three signature combinations trace the note across sixteen years and two governors. Joseph Brennan signed with J.J. McElligott until 1949; T.K. Whitaker's appearance on the 1959 dates marks the earliest period of his influence at the Department of Finance, just as his landmark Economic Development report was reshaping Irish fiscal thinking.