Bank of England £10 note

History

Ten pound notes were introduced by the Bank of England for the first time in 1759 as a consequence of gold shortages caused by the Seven Years' War. The earliest notes were handwritten, and were issued as needed to individuals. These notes were written on one side only and bore the name of the payee, the date, and the signature of the issuing cashier. With the exception of the Restriction Period between 1797 and 1821, when the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars caused a bullion shortage, these notes could be exchanged in full, or in part, for an equivalent amount of gold when presented at the bank. If redeemed in part, the banknote would be signed to indicate the amount that had been redeemed. From 1853 printed notes replaced handwritten notes, with the declaration "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ten pounds" replacing the name of the payee. This declaration remains on Bank of England banknotes to this day. A printed signature of one of three cashiers appeared on the printed notes, though this was replaced by the signature of the Chief Cashier from 1870 onward.

The ability to redeem banknotes for gold ceased in 1931 when Britain stopped using the gold standard. The £10 note ceased to be produced by the Bank of England in 1943, and it was not until 1964 with the advent of the series C notes that the denomination was re-introduced. These brown notes were the first £10 notes to feature an image of the monarch on the front, and unlike the previous 'White' notes they had a reverse; in this case featuring a lion. The C series was replaced by the D series beginning in 1975, with the new notes having a portrait of Florence Nightingale on the back. The tradition of portraying historical British figures on the reverse continued with the E series, first issued in 1992, with an image of Charles Dickens appearing. Series E notes are multicoloured, although they are predominantly orange-brown. From series E onward Bank of England £10 notes feature 'windowed' metal thread; this thread appears as a dashed line, yet forms a single line when held up to the light.

The current £10 note was introduced in 2000. It features a portrait of Charles Darwin on the back as well as an illustration of HMS Beagle and images of various flora and fauna. The note features a number of security features in addition to the metallic thread, including raised print, a watermark, microlettering, a hologram, and a number ten which only appears under ultraviolet light. In December 2013 the Bank of England announced that the next £10 note would be printed on polymer, rather than cotton paper. This followed the announcement in July 2013 that Charles Darwin would be replaced by 19th Century author Jane Austen on the next £10 note, which would enter circulation in 2017. The decision to replace Darwin with Austen followed a campaign to have a woman on the back of a Bank of England banknote when it was announced that the only woman to feature on the back of a note — prison reformer Elizabeth Fry on the £5 note — was to be replaced by Winston Churchill. Images on the reverse of the Jane Austen note will include a portrait of Austen commissioned by her nephew, an illustration of Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice by Isabel Bishop, an image of Godmersham Park (the home of Austen's brother), and a design based on Austen's 12-sided writing table as used by her at Chawton Cottage.

Designs

Information taken from Bank of England website.