Bank of England

Timeline

1. 1694London · LondonParliament passed revenue acts including the tonnage duty to finance the war against France, and William and Mary granted a charter to the 'Governor and Company of the Bank of England'. Subscribers provided the government with a loan of about £1.2 million in exchange for roughly 8% secured interest and the right to operate the bank; William and Mary themselves were original shareholders. The first governor was John Houblon.
2. 1694–1695Grocers' Hall, Cheapside · CheapsideThe bank opened on 1 August 1694 in the Grocers' Hall on Cheapside, initially with only a dozen or so clerks. It accepted public deposits, discounted bills, lent to government accounts, and issued circulating banknotes. Whigs and London merchants viewed bank shares as gilt-edged investments, and the first fundraising was quickly fully subscribed.
3. 1696London · LondonThe expansion of funded national debt combined with the clipping and recoining of silver coins produced financial strain and pressure to run on banknotes in 1696. Montagu promoted a nationwide recoinage, and the bank maintained its financing function for the government amid a shortage of coin. The crisis proved that paper credit depended on the coinage order and forced the bank to improve its reserves and note management.
4. 1697City of London · LondonAfter 1697 the charter was renewed, and the bank became the core institution for managing the national debt and issuing widely accepted banknotes. It moved to Threadneedle Street in the 18th century; the Bank Charter Act of 1844 strengthened its note-issuing monopoly; it was nationalized in 1946; and it gained operational independence in monetary policy at the end of the 20th century, completing a long evolution from a wartime private bank to a central bank.