Early English Attempts At Paper Currency - The Earl Of Rochester Signs A Lengthy Document To Pay Judges. A Few Years Later, The First English Banknotes Would Make This Process Far Simpler

LAWRENCE HYDE, FIRST EARL OF ROCHESTER (1641-1711). Rochester was named a Lord of the Treasury in 1679. In 1681, he was elevated from Viscount Hyde of Kenilworth to Earl of Rochester. He had friction with King James II and was dismissed from the Treasury in December 1686 with a substantial pension. ROBERT HOWARD (1626-1698). An English Restoration dramatist, Howard is best remembered for The Indian Queen and The Committee, as well as his ongoing literary feud with John Dryden. During the English Revolution, Howard sided with the Royalists at the Battle of Newbury and was imprisoned. After the Restoration, he was elected to Parliament and made auditor of the Exchequer. DS. 1pg. 8 ½” x 8 ½”. May 15, 1686. Whitehall Treasury Chambers. A document signed “Rochester”. It was written to Robert Howard, the auditor of the Exchequer: “At my hearty Commendation, By Virtue of his Ma[jest]y’s Letters Patents authorizing the payment of the yearly Sallarys [sic] to the Judges, These are to pray and require you to make and pass Debentures for payment of such Summes of moneye [sic as] are and shall from time to time be due to Richard Hearn Serj[ean]t at Law and one of the Barons of his Ma[jest]y’s Court of Exchequer upon his Sallary of One thousand pounds p[er] an[num] according to the direction of the said Letters Patents, and let [sic] the same be satisfied out of any his Ma[jest]y’s Treasure now or hereafter being and remaining in the receipt of the Exchequer not appropriated to particular uses by Act of Parliament, For which this shall be your Warrant. Trea[sur]y Chamber the 15th day of May 1686. Rochester”. The document is addressed “To my very Loving friend Sr Rob’t Howard, Auditor of his Ma[jest]y’s Rec[ords] of Excheq[ue]r.” This document concerns the creation of some of the first exchequer bills of credit, which was England’s first attempts at paper currency. Obviously, it was cumbersome to pay people, since lengthy documents, such as this example, had to be written out and signed by an official. The first bank to permanently use banknotes was the Bank of England in 1695. The currency promised to pay the bearer the value of the note on demand. The next year, the Bank of Scotland followed suit. The document has chipping to the margins and three tape stains to the edges, and is in very good condition. The manuscript comes with numerous articles about the Scottish economist John Law, who first introduced paper money in France, and lecture notes from what seems to be an economics professor who used this document in his or her classes.