Bank of England Museum site (Bank of England on wikipedia). The Bank rented premises in Mercer's Company hall anf Grocer's Co hall. Then Threadneedle street (1734) and the architects: Sampson, Taylor, Soane, Cockerell, Hardwick, Blomfield, Blomfield, Baker, and a process of building out, rebuilding.
John Soane served 1788-1833. (His assitant Joseph Gandy's cutaway perspective of the Bank and portico envisaged in ruins.)
Goldsmith's note as forerunner of bank note. Running cash note, 1697 for £22 (what value now? - about £1900 these days suggests Phil, thanks) - the earliest bank note known? (in the UK?). Cheques and a building society account model predate cash notes. Key difference: "or bearer". Current banknotes, and here.
Cheques written by Nicholas Vanacker, eg 8 Dec 1660, consistently contain the colon-dash twice :-:-. Vanacker the first to write a cheque, in 1659.
City of London bank (est 1682) and National Bank of Credit (est 1683) both failed before the Bank of England was founded, 1694. Nationalised 1946, gained independence 1997.
Tally sticks (wikipedia), from 12th century. Notches measure the amount transferred from creditor to debtor, the stick was then split vertically so each had a record. (Palace of Westminster fire, 1834, caused by the burning of old tally sticks)
Restriction 1797-1821: invasion scare causes rush on bank as people change paper for gold, Bank stopped payment on its notes. Spanish reales, 1797 ish, used when the public hoarded silver (during war?) Bank issued them, countermarking them (ie over-stamping them). George Cruikshank's Bank restriction note, 1819, protests the steep penalties for forgery by parodying the bank note, signed Jack Ketch. Restriction proved that Bank's credit depended on confidence, not on the convertability of its notes into gold. (cf: Cuban on gold as real-world standard recently). Restriction stops in 1821 and the "gold standard" is formally established (abandoned 1931).
1940-41: staff raise £5,000 to buy a Spitfire fighter. Many fighters were funded this way, from companies, individuals.
Turn the corner into the modern era: bewildering array of interactive and video presentations, and broken Bloomberg terminals.
"The Bank of England's building in Threadneedle Street has more space below ground than is contained in the former NatWest Tower, now renamed Tower 42."
This page http://eh.net/hmit/ppowerbp/ suggests that £22 in 1697 was worth about £1,909.97 in 2002. Only a very rough guide, and only one way of calculating it, but it's better than nothing.
More calculators here: http://eh.net/hmit/
Posted by: Phil Gyford | June 09, 2005 at 03:25 PM
Fact that surprised me when I visited the museum: the Queen is the first monarch to have her image on the banknote.
Posted by: Dominic Sayers | October 26, 2005 at 08:25 AM