Book contents
- The Age of Paper
- Reviews
- Cambridge Studies in Economic History
- The Age of Paper
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Illustrations
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Beginning of the Bank Restriction Period
- 2 The Users of the Bank of England Note
- 3 The Registers of Paper-Currency Use
- 4 Gold, Gold, Gold
- 5 The Forgery Crisis and the Radicalisation of Communal Currency
- 6 Resumption and Its Aftermath
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - The Users of the Bank of England Note
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2024
- The Age of Paper
- Reviews
- Cambridge Studies in Economic History
- The Age of Paper
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Illustrations
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Beginning of the Bank Restriction Period
- 2 The Users of the Bank of England Note
- 3 The Registers of Paper-Currency Use
- 4 Gold, Gold, Gold
- 5 The Forgery Crisis and the Radicalisation of Communal Currency
- 6 Resumption and Its Aftermath
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 2 investigates the extent of the use of Bank notes in British society during the Bank Restriction period. Drawing upon the Bank of England’s Lost Note Books – the record of claims submitted by customers who had lost their Bank notes – this chapter traces the geographical and social distribution of Bank note users. Following in the footsteps of John Clapham, who explored what he called the ‘radius of the Bank of England note’, this chapter reveals the patterns of the Bank note’s diffusion into British society and the underlying causes of its penetration into a number of places on the British Isles. The three factors that significantly affected the pattern of diffusion were commerce, the culture of sociability and Britain’s ongoing wars with France. These economic and extra-economic factors determined where the Bank notes were likely to see relatively extensive use. This chapter’s argument is underpinned by a large data set compiled from the Lost Note Books, which contain information about Bank note users’ identity as well as their geographical and social distribution. This unique source provides valuable insights into the diffusion of Bank note use.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Age of PaperThe Bank Note, Communal Currency and British Society, 1790s–1830s, pp. 67 - 107Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025