| Code | DS/UK/275 |
| Surname | Newland |
| Forenames | Abraham |
| Dates | 1730 - 1807 |
| Epithet | Chief Cashier (1778 - 1807) |
| Activity | Abraham Newland was born in Southwark in 1730. He joined the Bank as a clerk in 1748. By 1782 he was promoted to Chief Cashier. He retired from the Bank in 1806, dying shortly afterwards in 1807.
The presence of his signature on banknotes led to his name being adopted in popular culture as a slang for banknotes. He also featured in a popular ballad accredited to Charles Dibdin for the same reason (M5/603).
Newland featured prominently as a witness in the House of Lords Committee of 1797 on exchequer bills. He was also summoned as a witness in the trial of his subordinate Robert Astlett who was prosecuted for fraud at the Old Bailey in 1803.
Newland slept at the Bank every night of his twenty-five year period as Chief Cashier. He apparently penned his own epitaph "Beneath this stone old Abraham lies; / Nobody laughs, and nobody cries. / Where he has gone, and how he fares / Nobody knows and nobody cares." This is apocryphal (ADM24/4 p.47a.). His actual memorial stone is visible in the South Choir Aisle of Southwark Cathedral. |
| Source | W. Marston Acres, 'The Bank of England from within', pp.256-7.; Newland, Abraham (1730-1807), banking official ONDB. |
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