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5 Pounds Stockton on Tees Bank
| Issuer | Jonathan Backhouse & Company (Stockton on Tees Bank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1884 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Stockton on Tees Bank. £5. Promise to pay the Bearer FIVE POUNDS STOCKTON For Jonathan Backhouse & Company Entd Five Pounds. |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in green and carries a bold letterpress underprint in which the word 'FIVE' is formed by interlocking guilloche rosettes arranged in a broad horizontal band across the centre of the note. The issuer's name 'J. BACKHOUSE & Co.' appears in bold serif lettering within the central guilloche panel, with the serial number repeated in the upper left and lower right corners. |
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| Comments |
Jonathan Backhouse & Company had been operating in Stockton-on-Tees since 1774, making it one of the older provincial banking houses in the northeast of England. By the time this note was issued in 1884, the private note-issuing privilege was already dying — the Bank Charter Act of 1844 had frozen the number of authorized English private issuers, and any bank that subsequently merged or lost continuity forfeited its right permanently. Backhouse's was still legally entitled to issue, but the practical incentive had largely collapsed as Bank of England notes became universally accepted.
The bank was absorbed into Barclays in 1896, ending the note issue entirely. Survival rates for late Backhouse issues are low — not because of heavy circulation, but because most were redeemed and pulped before any collector interest developed.