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20 Pounds Sterling
| Issuer | Clydesdale Banking Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by an elaborate ornamental panel on the left bearing the conjoined initials 'CBC' within an intricate foliate and scrollwork frame, flanked by two oval vignettes at the upper centre — one inscribed 'GLASGOW' and the other with a tree motif — both surrounded by rococo guilloche borders. The central text area carries the promise-to-pay legend in copperplate script, identifying the issuing body as 'The Clydesdale Banking Company' with the denomination 'Twenty Pounds Sterling' rendered in bold letterpress, overprinted with large red 'SPECIMEN NOTE' and 'TWENTY POUNDS' warnings. The lower section provides spaces for the Accountant and Manager signatures, issued under authority of the Court of Directors. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | TWENTY POUNDS GLASGOW LET FLOURISH JOINT STOCK CBC The Clydesdale Banking Company PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND Twenty Pounds STERLING AT THEIR OFFICE By order of the Court of Directors Accountant Manager SPECIMEN NOTE |
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| Comments |
The Clydesdale Banking Company was founded in Glasgow in 1838, and by the 1860s was firmly established as one of the major Scottish provincial banks issuing their own notes under the rights preserved by the Bank Notes (Scotland) Act 1765. Scottish banks retained that privilege long after English country banks lost it, which is why a regional commercial bank could legally put its name on a twenty-pound instrument as late as this.
Twenty pounds in 1865 represented a significant sum — well above typical wage-earner transactions — so this denomination would have moved primarily between merchants, factors, and business accounts rather than across shop counters. High-value Scottish provincial notes from this period survive in quantity only when they were held as keepsakes or filed in business archives; genuinely circulated examples tend to show heavy fold stress at the quarters.
Clydesdale was absorbed into the Midland Bank group in 1920 but continued trading under its own name.