| Level | Series |
| Reference Number (click to see whole series/group) | 13A84/14 |
| Extent | 210 items |
| Title | FORGERY |
| Date | 9 Apr 1797 - 20 Dec 1861 |
| Admin History | In consequence of the French Revolutionary Wars (17921807), the British Government suspended cash payments between 1797 and 1821, which led to a large increases in forgery activity. Due to the suspension of cash payments, the period became known as the Restriction period. The Bank issued £1 and £2 notes in 1797, which were soon forged and circulated. Forgers seized on peoples unfamiliarity with the new bank notes, as well as their poor quality. The Banks solicitors, Freshfields, were tasked with investigating and prosecuting forgery, working in close collaboration with town constables and police, and employing local agents. Between 1797 and 1821, over two thousand people were brought to trial. Both forgery and utterance (the act of passing a forged note knowing it to be forged) were capital offences carrying the death penalty until 1832. However, from 1801 those arrested were offered a plea bargain, whereby they could plead guilty to being in possession of forged notes in return for a sentence of 14 years transportation.
Sources:
Randall McGowen, Managing the Gallows: The Bank of England and the Death Penalty, 1797-1821, Law and History Review, 25.2 (2007), 241-282 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0738248000002923>
Randall McGowen, The Bank of England and the Policing of Forgery 1797-1821, Past & Present, 186 (2005), 81116 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3600852> [accessed 4 July 2024]
Deirdre Palk, Fit Objects for Mercy: Gender, the Bank of England and Currency Criminals, 1804-1833, Womens Writing, 11.2 (2004), 237258 <https://doi.org/10.1080/09699080400200230> |
| Description | The Series predominantly comprises bundles of papers with each bundle relating to a particular case of forgery. The term 'bundle' has generally been used to indicate the item-level extent where there are three of more items. There is great variety in the size of the bundles, some comprising three papers and others dozens of papers so bundle has been used as a convenient shorthand.
Individuals were generally accused of uttering forged notes rather than forging notes. While the term utterance is not always used in the papers - sometimes the bundles reference 'passing', 'possessing' and 'dealing forged notes' - all cases involved investigating whether there was knowledge of forgery and the intent to defraud. For this reason, and for consistency, all the titles of items pertaining to investigations reference uttering. In most cases, Freshfields, the Bank's solicitors, determined that the accused was to be discharged rather than prosecuted.
Items within the bundles include witness testimonies; testimonies of the accused; letters from and to the accused; character testimonies; and, in some cases, forged notes. There is a significant amount of correspondence with Freshfields, conveying information about a particular case, seeking advice, and seeking compensation for expenses incurred during investigations. There is correspondence between Freshfields and local agents and others involved in investigating forgery (for instance, constables, police, clerks, magistrates, and solicitors), as well as correspondence between Freshfields and members of the public volunteering information. Much of the material relates to Birmingham, where it appears that many notes were forged and then circulated throughout the country. Some items relate to the forging of other bank's notes and to the counterfeiting of coin.
The names of individuals have only been picked out and included in the title and/or description fields where there is substantial mention of them. Individuals are often mentioned in passing, with little detail or context given. In these instances, names have not been included in the catalogue. Therefore, some of the individuals named in the catalogue also appear in passing in other items in the collection. Key names were generally written on the reverse of papers so it is these names that have typically been included in the catalogue.
Where a forged note is included, this has been noted in the item-level description. The papers often include the serial number of the forged notes. The location of the crime, or in some cases the place that the accused came from, has been included in the description where it has been simple to ascertain. Some of the titles name multiple people; where these people were not involved in the same case, this has been indicated in the description.
Statement on content and language: references of domestic abuse and derogatory language about disabled people. |
| Custodial History | These papers were originally held by the Archive and transferred to the Museum. A letter from the Archive to the Museum was discovered in one of the boxes dated 1989, indicating that the transfer took place around this time. The papers were returned to the Archive and accessioned in 2018. Cataloguing was undertaken in 2024. |
| YearOpen | 2025 |
| Keyword | Forgery; forgeries; Freshfields; fraud; legal opinions; bank notes; passing |