Writers and banknotes
The new ten pound note features Jane Austen, one of the world’s best-loved authors.
Money was a huge theme in her work as it was central to domestic life.
In the late 18th and 19th centuries, women were financially dependent on their father or husband. However, many of the heroines in Austen’s novels refuse to marry for money or social necessity – like Jane herself, who never married.
But Austen isn’t the only writer to have appeared on a banknote. Shakespeare was on the £20 note between 1970 and 1992 and Charles Dickens featured on the £10 note between 1992 and 2003.
Dickens is one of the most famous storytellers of London. In The Pickwick Papers, he includes a scene set in our Consol’s Office.