Catalog
5 Pounds White, 1793 issue
| Issuer | Bank of England |
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| Year | 1793-1807 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Unprinted white note typical of early Bank of England issues, with a Britannia vignette at the upper left. The body of the note is occupied by the letterpress promise-to-pay text, rendered in a formal copperplate style, with the denomination expressed in both words and the abbreviated figure "£FIVE". The date, payee line, and authorising inscription for the Governor and Company of the Bank of England are arranged in successive lines across the face of the note. |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted plain white paper, characteristic of the early "White Fiver" issues of the Bank of England, with no typeset text, vignette, or decorative elements. Show-through of the obverse letterpress text is visible due to the thin stock, and a circular stamp impression is discernible at the upper right, consistent with an endorsement or cancellation mark applied during processing. |
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The Bank of England's white note series — handwritten on one side, blank on the other — was the standard form of high-denomination paper currency in Britain for roughly 250 years. These were filled out by cashiers individually, signed by hand, and payable to bearer on demand at the Bank's Threadneedle Street counter. The series to which this note belongs predates mechanized production; each example is genuinely unique in its written details.
The 1793 start date is telling. War with Revolutionary France broke out that February, and the surge in government borrowing that followed put enormous pressure on Bank reserves. By 1797, the strain forced suspension of gold payments entirely — the Restriction Period — meaning notes issued in this window crossed that threshold mid-series.