| Level | Collection |
| Creator Name | Bank of England Accountant's Department |
| Reference Number (click to see whole series/group) | 20A29 |
| Extent | 2665 volumes |
| Title | WAR LOANS: FIRST WORLD WAR |
| Date | 1912 - 1940 |
| Admin History | This collection covers loans that were issued to finance the First World War. From the start of the war up until before the issue of the first war loan, funds for the war had been provided by using Ways and Means Advances and by the issue of Treasury Bills. On the 7 Nov 1914, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd George presented to the House of Commons the first War Budget. This showed a deficit of £339,571,000, on the assumption that the war would last until the end of March 1915. Some new taxation was levied, but this was only expected to reduce the deficit by around £18m. The lists for the first war loan (the 3 1/2% War Loan 1925-1928, Series 20A29/1) opened on 17 Nov 1914.
The below background notes may help researchers understand some of the terminology and processes associated with war loans and loans more generally.
A. Process of applying for a loan:
Before 1914, prospectuses for government issues were published in the newspapers, but without an application form. These, together with prospectuses, were always available from the Banks of England and Ireland and the Government Broker, they were also sometimes available at the Bank’s branches.
Applications had to be accompanied by a deposit, usually a few pounds per cent. Generally, issues were partly paid, with provisions for early payment of instalments under discount.
The administrative process went through three stages:
1) If the application was successful, a ‘provisional receipt’ was issued.
2) If the issue was partly paid, the provisional receipt was exchanged for a ‘scrip certificate’, or ‘allotment letter’, which was a bearer document with coupons attached for the dividends payable during the period that the issue was partly paid. As each call was paid, it was recorded in the scrip. If the issue was fully paid, or the applicant had selected to apply fully paid, the scrip was inscribed at once.
3) When the instalments had been paid in full, the scrip certificate was ‘inscribed’ in the Bank’s books, that is, it was converted into stock.
The First World War found the Bank unprepared for the expansion in the number of issues or holders. Problems were presented by the lack of premises and trained managers, overworked staff and the lack of warning of new issues, as well as the exercise of conversion options.
The first two loans, the 3 1/2% War Loan 1925-1928 (20A29/1) and 4 1/2% War Loan 1925-45 (20A29/3) were issued with little change in this machinery. The volume of applications and conversions strained the Bank and the opportunity was taken with the issue of 5% Exchequer Bonds 1920 (20A29/4) to make changes.
Edited from Jeremy Wormell's 'The Management of the National Debt in the United Kingdom 1900-1932', Appendix II 'New issue procedures before 1914'. p. 729ff.
B. Responsible departments within the Bank:
Within the Bank, both the Banking and Accountant's Departments were engaged with the preliminary stages of a loan, with the Accountant's Department having final responsibility for the management of the issues. The staff of the Accountant’s department consisted of no more than about 300 at the beginning of the war; it had grown by more than 10 times by July 1919, including temporary assistance, men and women.
Additional details regarding staffing and working practices in relation to the issuing and managing of war loans can be found in 'The Bank of England 1914-1921 (Unpublished War History)' by John Arundel Caulfeild Osborne, Ch.3, p. 464 ff., including the different additional venues occupied by the Bank for processing the war loans and associated tasks such as correspondence. Additional venues listed include the Auction Mart in Tokenhouse Yard in May 1919, where staff dealt with the large amount of correspondence generated by the war loans; the two top floors of Tabernacle Street; Moorgate Hall; 60 London Wall; Finsbury Court; Imrie House.
C. The Bank and Post Office:
Under the authority of the War Loans Supplemental Provisions Act 1915, free transfer of War Stocks was allowed between the books of the Bank of England and the Post Office Register. Large number of stockholders took advantage of this. It was arranged that stock issued by the Post Office should be represented by an entry in the Bank's books in the name of C.R.N.D. (Report by the Governor to Committee of Treasury, 26/11/1919).
Information taken from the Bank of England Unpublished War History 1914-1921, p. 472.
Treasury Bills and War Expenditure Certificate do not form part of this collection. See 'The Bank of England 1914-1921 (Unpublished War History)' by John Arundel Caulfeild Osborne', Ch. 3, pp. 477 and 489. |
| Description | This collection comprises ledgers corresponding to different loans, often accompanied by indexes.
1. Ledgers:
Each ledger entry contains the name of the lead investor, the address, and the date and amount of each purchase. Each entry also records the method used to make the purchase (for example stockbroker or scrip application) and the dates and amounts of any disposals. The format is that of double-entry bookkeeping so that purchases always balance with sales. The entry also records the occupation of male investors and the marital status of female investors.
Some of the ledgers are referred to as 'book', 'deed', 'jobbers'. The meaning of these words is explained below:
A. 'Book' and 'Deed':
Until 1912, ownership of Government stock was evidenced by entries detailing the owner's details in books held by the Bank. The process of writing ownership into the Bank’s books was known as ‘inscription’ and the Stock was known as ‘inscribed stock’, or ‘Book stock’.
This process required an investor to appear in person at the Bank accompanied by a stockbroker, or to grant a power of attorney to a legal representative whose signature had been registered. It was a system convenient for those living in and around London, but cumbersome for those living in other areas of the country.
From 1912, the Bank started to operate transfer of stock by Deed, and established separate 'Transfer by Deed' registers for holdings of 'Deed Stock'. The 5% Exchequer Bonds 1919 and 1921 (20A29/14 and 15) was the first occasion on which transfer by Deed was made available for war loans, and the actual bonds were not prepared for those wishing to hold the securities in registered form. If an investor resided outside of London, they would have been likely to have purchased the war bonds by Deed if this option was available, and therefore the relevant entry may be found in the 'Deed' ledgers.
A separate office called 'Transfer by Deed Office' was created in June 1919.
Information on the difference between 'Book' and 'Deed' is taken from Jeremy Wormell's 'The Management of the National Debt in the United Kingdom 1900-1932', Appendix I 'Settlement and registration', p. 725ff., and p. 193; and from Ch. 3 of the Bank of England Unpublished War History.
B. Jobbers:
Jobbers acted as wholesalers. Their accounts were entered in separate jobbers' ledgers. Jobbers' ledgers include purchases of stock by jobbers, for the purpose of re-selling them onto the public OR cover investors who had purchased their bonds through a jobber [NB both are a complete guess as nowhere I could find what 'Jobbers' ledgers are in the context of WW1 loans].
2. Indexes, 'supplements' and 'gones':
Series usually include indexes, or ‘Alphabets’, where the names of sole or first stockholders are indexed alphabetically by the first letter of their surname. Second or third investors in a participating group are usually not indexed, though they are listed under the lead investor. When there are multiple investors with the same name, often an address or a town is listed to help with identification. Left hand columns of each index record the investor’s first names with the surname next to it. The right hand column next to the name gives a number. That number represents the ledger page number on which that investor’s purchases and sales are recorded, which can be found by ordering the corresponding ledger to an index. The indexes include no other information about each investment. This approach also applies to corporate or business investors in war loans.
If there are many entries for any given letter in the alphabet, the indexes may be split into volumes. As a sub-division became full, it was the practice to create a supplementary section at the end of each alphabetical letter or at the end of each volume: usually these supplements are numbered and their number is given in the main sub-division. As ledgers became full and were rewritten, so fresh alphabets were done too. Only live accounts were carried across, so the names of stockholders on closed (or 'gone') accounts were not included in the new alphabet.
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| Related Material | A. 'The Bank of England 1914-1921 (Unpublished War History)' by John Arundel Caulfeild Osborne includes an extensive chapter on 'War Loans' (Ch. 3, M7/156), covering a description of each loan as well as a table listing all the loans and their characteristics. This item has also been digitised and can be viewed online:
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/archive/ww/boe-1914-1921-vol1-chapter3.pdf
Most of the information in this catalogue's administrative histories is a summary of the information provided in the Unpublished War History. It is recommended to check the original sections of the Unpublished War History for additional details, for example covering more information on numbers of applications or money raised by specific loans and details of the internal administrative process and staffing arrangemements.
The remaining chapters of the Unpublished War History can be found in M5/157, M5/158 and M5/159, or online via this page:
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/archive/bank-of-england-1914-21-ww1
B. PhD Thesis 'How Britain Paid for War - Bond Holders and the Financing of the Great War 1914–32', by Norma Cohen
C. 'The Management of the National Debt in the United Kingdom 1900-1932', by Jeremy Wormell.
D. 'British government securities in the twentieth century', by Pember and Boyle.
E. Series PW15 includes specimens of several printed bills, bonds and other documents printed by the Bank's Printing Works, including a number of specimens of war bonds. |
| Keyword | CRND; WWI; World War One. |