Editing HM Treasury (section)

== Banknote issue ==
[[File:HM-treasury-note-10-shillings-bradbury-C.jpg|thumb|300px|A 10-shilling HM Treasury note depicting [[George V]]]]
Banknotes in the UK are normally [[Bank of England note issues|issued]] by the [[Bank of England]] and a number of commercial banks (see [[Banknotes of the pound sterling]]). At the start of the [[First World War]], the [[Currency and Bank Notes Act 1914]] was passed, giving the Treasury temporary powers to issue banknotes in two denominations, one at £1 and another at 10 shillings, in the UK. Treasury notes had full legal tender status and were not convertible for gold through the Bank of England. They replaced the gold coin in circulation to prevent a run on sterling and to enable purchases of raw materials for armaments production. These notes featured an image of [[King George V]] (Bank of England notes did not begin to display an image of the monarch until 1960). The wording on each note was ''UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND&nbsp;— Currency notes are Legal Tender for the payment of any amount by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury under the Authority of Act of Parliament (4 & 5 Geo. V c.14)''. Notes issued after the [[partition of Ireland]] from 1922 had the wording changed to read "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

The promise (never adhered to) was that they would be removed from circulation after the war had ended. In fact, the notes were issued until 1928, when the [[Currency and Bank Notes Act 1928]] returned note-issuing powers to the banks.<ref name="treasurynotes1">{{cite web
|url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/trev.rh/Notes/treasury.htm
|title=Treasury notes
|access-date=12 October 2007
|author=Trevor R Howard
|archive-date=5 December 2007
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205183225/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/trev.rh/Notes/treasury.htm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>