Editing Bank of England (section)

====Incorporation====
[[File:Bank of England Charter sealing 1694.jpg|thumb|right|''Sealing of the Bank of England Charter (1694)'', by Lady Jane Lindsay, 1905]]
The [[royal charter]] of the Bank of England was granted on 27 July 1694, three months after the passing of the Act.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

In the end the £1.2 million was raised in 12 days; 1,268 people subscribed. Their holdings were known as Bank Stock (Bank Stock continued to be held in private ownership until 1946 when the Bank of England was nationalised).<ref>{{cite web |title=Index to Original Subscribers to Bank Stock 1694 |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/archive/index-to-original-subscribers-to-bank-stock-1694 |website=Bank of England Archive |access-date=5 January 2024}}</ref> The majority of the original subscribers were of 'the [[mercantile]] middle classes of London' (though [[tradesmen]] and [[artisans]] also subscribed).<ref name="Kynaston2017" /> Most (more than two-thirds) contributed less than £1,000. As a proportion of the total amount raised, 25% came from '[[esquire]]s', 21% from merchants and 15% from titled [[aristocrats]]. Twelve per cent of the original subscribers were women.<ref name="Kynaston2017" /> [[William and Mary of England|King William and Queen Mary]] (jointly) invested £10,000, the maximum permitted sum, as did a handful of others (including Sir [[John Houblon]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Index to the Book of the Subscriptions 1694 |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/archive/original-bank-subscribers/1694.pdf |website=Bank of England |access-date=27 January 2024}}</ref>

Investment in the navy duly took place. As a side effect, the huge industrial effort needed (including establishing [[ironworks]] to make more nails and advances{{Clarify|date=February 2016}} in agriculture feeding the quadrupled strength of the navy) started to transform the economy. This helped the new [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] – [[Acts of Union 1707|England and Scotland were formally united in 1707]] – to become powerful. The power of the [[Royal Navy]] made Britain the dominant world power in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jqDMmWhPHA |title=Empire of the Seas |publisher=BBC |access-date=10 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220124600/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jqDMmWhPHA&gl=US&hl=en&has_verified=1&bpctr=9999999999 |archive-date=20 December 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>