The beginnings
The revolution of 1688, which brought William and Mary to the throne, gave England a measure of political stability unknown for nearly a century. Commerce flourished, but the public finances were weak and the system of money and credit was in disarray. The goldsmith bankers had been damaged by the lax financial management of the Stuart kings. There were calls for a national or public bank to mobilise the nation's resources. Many schemes were proposed. The successful one, from William Paterson, envisaged a loan of £1,200,000 to the Government, in return for which the subscribers would be incorporated as the "Governor and Company of the Bank of England". Although the new bank would have risked its entire capital by lending it to the Government, the subscription proved popular and the money was raised in a few weeks. The Royal Charter was sealed on 27 July 1694, and the Bank started its role as the Government's banker and debt-manager, which it continues today.

Open for business
The Bank opened for business a few days later in temporary accommodation in the Mercers' Hall in Cheapside; it had a staff of seventeen clerks and two gatekeepers. Later in the same year it moved to the Grocers' Hall in Princes Street, which became its home until 1734 when it acquired premises in Threadneedle Street. Over the next hundred years it gradually acquired adjacent premises until the present three-acre island site was secured, and Sir John Soane's massive curtain wall was erected round it. This still forms the outer wall of the Bank.