Bank of England £5 note

Introduction

Five pound notes were introduced by the Bank of England in 1793, following the ten pound note which had been introduced in 1759 as a consequence of gold shortages caused by the Seven Years' War. The 5 pound note was introduced again, due to gold shortages caused by the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars and was the lowest denomination of note issued until 1797. 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, date and the signature of the issuing cashier.

Restriction Period

In 1797 due to the extra money need to fund the war and uncertainty caused as England declared War on France, a series of bank runs drained the Bank of England of its gold supply. They were forced to stop exchanging gold for notes and to issue notes of £1 and £2 denominations. This was known as the 'restriction period', as the exchange of notes for their value in gold was restricted.

The Restriction Period finished in 1821 as the Government has to anchor the value of the currency to gold in order to control sharply rising inflation and national debt. After a brief period to offset any sudden deflation, the UK returned to the gold standard on 1 May 1821. These notes could again 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 five 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.

Move Away from Gold Standard

The ability to redeem banknotes for gold ceased in 1931 when Britain stopped using the gold standard. Metal thread was introduced on the five pound note in 1945 as a security feature. The printed black and white notes were replaced from 1957 onward by new, two-sided notes. The first two-sided £5 notes (series B) were blue and featured a bust of Britannia on the front and a lion on the back. Series C notes, first introduced in 1963, were the first notes to feature an image of the monarch on the front, with Britannia being relegated to the back. From 1971 onward with the introduction of series D a British historical figure was portrayed on the reverse; the soldier and statesman the Duke of Wellington in this case. Series E notes, first issued in 1990 are multicoloured, although they are predominantly turquoise-blue. These notes feature a portrait of the railway pioneer George Stephenson, as well as for the first time 'windowed' metal thread; this thread appears as a dashed line, yet forms a single line when held up to the light.

Moving to Polymer

In April 2013 Sir Mervyn King on behalf of the bank announced that Elizabeth Fry will be replaced by Winston Churchill on the next £5 note which will enter circulation in 2016. It was also announced here that the note would feature Images on the reverse include a 1941 portrait of Churchill by Yusuf Karsh, a view of the Houses of Parliament, and a background image of Churchill's Nobel Prize in Literature, while the obverse would feature an image of Queen Elizabeth II.

In December 2013 the Bank of England announced that the next £5 note would be printed on polymer, rather than cotton paper. The bank cited that they would be "cleaner, more secure and more durable". It was also said that the new polymer notes would be more environmentally friendly, lasting 2.5 times as long as a cotton paper one, according to the Bank's own environmental testing.

The note was introduced on 13 September 2016, with an initial print run of 440 million notes (worth £2.2 billion) being issued, over the period of co-circulation. It was announced that there will be a co-circulatory period with the old series E notes, and then on the 5 May 2017, the series E will cease to be legal tender. However, as with all Bank of England notes, their face value is retained and can be exchanged anytime.

Controversy

In November there was controversy when the Bank of England confirmed that the new notes contain traces of tallow in the new notes. Some vegetarians and vegans are unhappy with the note with one Cambridge cafe boycotting the new note, and an online petition was created, gaining over 70,000 signatures. The manufacturer, Innovia Security, is looking into changing the recipe for the polymer used, to not contain any animal products, which are added at the early stage of production in producing the polymer pellets.

List of Historical Designs

Sources from the Bank of England:

Current Designs

Currently, the series E (paper) and F (polymer) notes are in co-circulation with each other, and can both be used as currency, until the 5 May 2017.

Paper Note

The paper note is the second smallest note currently issued by the Bank, measuring 135x70mm. It features a grey and green colour scheme and as with all note issues by the Bank of England, features the Queen on the obverse (front).

Circulation

The Bank of England is responsible for printing and issuing notes to ensure a smooth monetary supply across the United Kingdom. It reports the number of notes in circulation at any given time. As of the end of February 2016, there were £1,645,000,000 worth of £5 notes in circulation, which is equivalent to 329,000,000 individual notes.

Table sources from the Bank of England Statistics