Bank of England Founded
July 27, 1694
A Scottish financier named William Paterson persuaded the cash-strapped English government to charter a joint-stock bank that would lend the king money in exchange for the right to issue banknotes. The Bank of England, with eight hundred shareholders, began operations in Mercers' Hall. Modern public debt was invented, and the financial architecture that would fund Britain's rise to global power was in place.
In context
Also in 1694 (4 other events on record)
- Matsuo Basho's Narrow Road Posthumously Published · East Asia · Culture
- Huygens Publishes Treatise on Light · Europe · Science
- Voltaire Born · Europe · Culture
- Queen Mary Dies of Smallpox · Europe · Politics
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Politics
Era
Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources