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3 - The Registers of Paper-Currency Use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2024

Hiroki Shin
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
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Summary

Chapter 3 examines the various uses of Bank notes based on the Lost Note Books and other archival sources. Besides being used to buy goods and services, the Bank note frequently appeared in specific monetary transactions, making it a form of ‘special purpose currency’. The high value of Bank notes made them more likely to be used for round sums, such as paying employees’ wages. Paying wages for seamen and navy employees had a significant impact on the spread of Bank notes, expanding their user base geographically and socially. Other notable uses of Bank of England notes include interregional payments, rent and tax payments, which demonstrate how Bank notes became a special currency in Britain’s diverse monetary landscape. This chapter also highlights the different modes of Bank note use, particularly through social endorsement. Although not legally significant as in the case of bills of exchange, note users widely endorsed Bank notes during the Bank Restriction period. This social form of endorsement represented a sense of communal currency and the belief that note users played a role in generating monetary value.

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