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20 Pounds British Linen Bank
| Issuer | British Linen Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1907-1912 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Incorporated by Royal Charter 1746 The British Linen Bank Promise to Pay on Demand to the Bearer Twenty Pounds Sterling By order of the Court of Directors |
| Reverse description | The reverse is plain unprinted paper, showing the laid texture of the stock and traces of show-through from the obverse printing, consistent with the uniface production typical of Scottish commercial banknotes of this period. |
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| Comments |
The British Linen Bank — formally the British Linen Company, chartered in 1746 — was one of Scotland's oldest chartered banks, originally established to finance the domestic linen trade before evolving into a fully commercial bank. By the time this £20 note was issued, the denomination served almost exclusively as a commercial and inter-bank instrument; £20 was a substantial sum for personal use in Edwardian Scotland, and retail circulation would have been negligible.
Waterlow & Sons handled security printing for numerous British colonial and domestic issuers during this period, their London works producing notes to a consistently high intaglio standard. The British Linen Bank was absorbed by the Bank of Scotland in 1969, ending a 223-year independent run.