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‘A new species of mony’: British Exchequer bills, 1701-1711

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Richard A. Kleer
Richard A. Kleer*
Affiliation:
University of Regina
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Abstract

This article studies the relationship between Bank and Treasury during the War of the Spanish Succession. It examines two new series of Exchequer bills implemented in 1707 and 1709. Far from being loans-for-rents contracts, the principal aim was to accommodate war-related pressures on the nation's monetary system by manufacturing a substitute for scarce specie. The article also shows there was a covert struggle within the financial community for access to the specie flows associated with the nation's system of public finance.

Keywords

Exchequer billsmoneybankingfinancial crises

JEL classification

E51: Money Supply • Credit • Money Multipliers E42: Monetary Systems • Standards • Regimes • Government and the Monetary System • Payment Systems H63: Debt • Debt Management • Sovereign Debt E65: Studies of Particular Policy Episodes G21: Banks • Depository Institutions • Micro Finance Institutions • Mortgages H12: Crisis Management G01: Financial Crises
Type
Articles
Information
Financial History Review , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , August 2015 , pp. 179 - 203
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Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V. 2015 

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References

Sources

BEA. Bank of England Archives, London

ADM7. General ledgers (‘Bank Ledgers’)

G4. Minutes of the Court of Directors (‘Bank Minutes’)

British Mercury

London Gazette

NA. National Archives, Kew, London

T1. Treasury Board Papers and In-Letters

T29. Treasury Board Minutes (‘Treasury Minutes’)

Post Man

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