Counterfeit Bank Notes chiefly of £5. Known by the coarseness of the paper. The Water mark clumsily executed with the figures 35 in the corner (?) which appears to be done with something that cut a part of the 3 in two. Most of them Entered P Casely  C Jacks   Signed – dated Feb 16, 1798. Others are entered C Jacks & signed W George

War with France towards the end of the Eighteenth Century coincided with a drastic shortage of both gold and silver. The country operated on a dual gold and silver standard, fixing the relative value of the two metals as being 1:20. The shortage of gold and silver meant that the Bank of England were forced to issue paper money for comparatively low values, albeit with the statement "Bank of England Promise to pay on demand the sum of £--" to reassure bearers that they could (at least in theory) exchange the notes for the precious metal at the Bank of England.

It meant that for the first time the general public came into contact with bank notes - previously the notes were for huge amounts which were never intended for general use. The banknotes from 1725 were issued for amounts of £20, £25, £30 and upwards to £100 in £10 stages; then  in multiples of £100 up to £500. The highest denomination note was for £1000.  These notes from 1725 onwards were partially printed - in other words leaving the name of the payee, date, amount and cashier’s signature to be filled in by hand. In 1759 the first £10 and £15 notes appeared. Watermarks had long been used on Bank of England notes, and an early feature was the metallic strip. Unlike modern notes with their 'windowed thread' these early strips were buried in the paper while it was being made. The actual paper was of a special quality, and early paper manufacturing was centred on the River Test in Hampshire. It was at Bere Mill near Overton that in 1724 the Huguenot exile Henri de Portal started to supply paper to the Bank of England, a tradition carried on by his son  Joseph Portal at Laverstoke Mill.

In 1793, with the onset of war with France, £5 notes came on the scene and four years later this was followed by notes having a denomination of £2 and £1 which meant that at that stage there were no fewer than 19 different notes in use! The appearance of the low denomination notes meant that gradually more of the general public had to come to terms with paper money, but banknotes were easy to counterfeit as many of their new owners were illiterate and not used to handling notes. This therefore is the background to Richard’s warning about forgeries. 

Gillray captured the public fear about banknotes with a series of cartoons dating from 1797 (Gillray drawings courtesy of the Lancashire Gallery http://www.lancashiregallery.co.uk/ )



"Political-Ravishment, or The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street in danger!"

First published, May 1797. A thin, elderly woman wearing a dress comprised of one-pound notes, throws up her arms in alarm as William Pitt embraces her with his right hand and takes guineas from her pocket with his left.

Postscript: And the million pound note, as featured in the film starring Gregory Peck? There never was one - this is a spoof!