Editing Bank of England (section)

===18th century===
[[File:ONL (1887) 1.463 - Dividend Day at the Bank, 1770.jpg|thumb|''[[Dividend]] Day at the Bank, 1770''. The Pay Hall of 1732 was one of the Bank's first buildings on Threadneedle Street. (At one time shareholders were required to attend in person for the payment of Government dividends; the practice was abolished in 1910).<ref name="BoEHistFun" />]]
In 1700, the [[Hollow Sword Blade Company]] was purchased by a group of businessmen who wished to establish a competing English bank (in an action that would today be considered a "back door listing"). The Bank of England's initial monopoly on English banking was due to expire in 1710. However, it was instead renewed, and the Sword Blade company failed to achieve its goal.

The idea and reality of the [[United Kingdom national debt|national debt]] came about at around this time, and this was also largely managed by the bank. Through the 1715 [[Ways and Means]] Act, Parliament authorised the bank to receive subscriptions for a government issue of 5% annuities, designed to raise £910,000;<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Bank of England as Registrar |journal=Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin |date=1 March 1963 |pages=22–29 |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/1963/the-boe-as-registrar.pdf |access-date=5 January 2024}}</ref> this marked the start of the bank's role in managing Government Stocks, which were a means for people to invest in government debt (previously Government borrowing had been administered directly by the Exchequer).<ref name="Hennessy1992">{{cite book |last1=Hennessy |first1=Elizabeth |title=A Domestic History of the Bank of England |date=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=43–45}}</ref> The bank was obliged by the Act to pay half-yearly [[dividends]] and to keep a book record of all transfers (as it was already accustomed to do with regard to its own Bank Stock).

The bank did not have a monopoly on lending to the government, however: the [[South Sea Company]] had been established in 1711, and in 1720 it too became responsible for part of the UK's national debt, becoming a major competitor to the Bank of England. While the "South Sea Bubble" disaster soon ensued, the company continued managing part of the UK national debt until 1853. The [[East India Company]] too was a lender of choice for the government.

In 1734 there were ninety-six members of staff at the bank.<ref name="Hennessy1992" /> The bank's charter was renewed in 1742, and again in 1764. By the 1742 Act the bank became the only [[joint-stock company]] allowed to issue bank notes in the metropolis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bagehot |first=Walter |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4359 |title=Lombard Street: a description of the money market |publisher=Henry S. King and Co. |year=1873 |location=London |access-date=4 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509060631/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4359 |archive-date=9 May 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

====Threadneedle Street====
[[File:The history and survey of London - from its foundation to the present time (1756) (14590189508).jpg|thumb|right|''A Perspective View of the Bank of England'' (published 1756): the bank initially occupied a narrow site behind the front on Threadneedle Street.]]
The Bank of England moved to its current location, on the site of Sir John Houblon's house and garden in Threadneedle Street (close by the church of [[St Christopher le Stocks]]), in 1734.<ref name="Bldgs">{{Cite web |title=Bank of England: Buildings and Architects |url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/Pages/history/buildings.aspx# |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910182914/http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/Pages/history/buildings.aspx |archive-date=10 September 2015 |access-date=31 July 2015 |publisher=The Bank of England |df=dmy-all}}</ref> (The estate had been purchased ten years earlier; Houblon had died in 1712, but his widow lived on in the house until her death in 1731, after which the house was demolished and work on the bank began.)<ref name="BoE1794-1984" />

The newly built premises, designed by George Sampson, occupied a narrow plot (around {{convert|80|ft}} wide) extending north from Threadneedle Street.<ref name="SoaneMusSampson">{{cite web |title=Presentation drawings for the Bank as designed by George Sampson, 1732 |url=https://collections.soane.org/OBJECT2032 |website=Sir John Soane's Museum, London |access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref> The front building contained [[Stock transfer agent|transfer offices]] on the first floor, beneath which was an entrance arch leading to a courtyard. Facing the entrance was the 'main building' of the bank:<ref name="Maitland1756" /> a [[Banking hall|large Hall]] ({{convert|79x40|ft|abbr=on}}) in which bank notes were issued and exchanged,<ref name="Phillips1805">{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Sir Richard |title=Modern London: Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis |date=1805 |publisher=Richard Phillips |location=London |pages=296–304}}</ref> and where deposits and withdrawals could be made.<ref name="Kynaston2017" /> (Sampson's Great Hall, later known as the Pay Hall, remained ''in situ'' and in use until [[Herbert Baker]]'s comprehensive rebuilding in the late 1920s.)<ref name="Rebuilding">{{cite web |title=Rebuilding the Bank of England |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/museum/online-collections/archive-gallery/rebuilding-of-the-bank |website=Bank of England Museum |access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref> Beyond the Hall was a quadrangle of buildings enclosing a 'spacious and commodious Court-yard' (later known as Bullion Court). On the south side of the quadrangle were the Court Room and Committee Room, on the north side was a large Accountants' Office; on either side were [[arcaded]] walkways, with rooms for the senior officers, while the upper floors contained offices and apartments.<ref name="SoaneMusSampson" /> Beneath the quadrangle were the vaults ('that have very strong Walls and Iron Gates, for the Preservation of the Cash'); access to the courtyard was provided, by way of a passage leading to a 'grand Gateway' on Bartholomew Lane, for the coaches and waggons 'that come frequently loaded with Gold and Silver Bullion'.<ref name="Maitland1756">{{cite book |last1=Maitland |first1=William |title=The History and Survey of London from its Foundation to the Present Time (volume II) |date=1756 |publisher=T. Osborne and J. Shipton |location=London |pages=846–848 |url=https://archive.org/details/historysurveyofl02mait/page/846/mode/2up? |access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref> The pediment above the entrance to the main Hall was decorated with a carved ''[[alto relievo]]'' figure of [[Britannia]] (who had appeared on the [[Company seal|common seal]] of the bank since 30 July 1694);<ref>{{cite book |title=Britannia and the Bank 1694-1961 |date=1962 |publisher=Bank of England |location=London |page=1 |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/archive/publications/britannia-and-the-bank.pdf |access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref> the sculptor was [[Robert Taylor (architect)|Robert Taylor]], who went on to be appointed Architect, in succession to Sampson, in 1764. Inside, the east end of the Hall was dominated by a large statue by [[John Cheere]] of King William III,<ref>{{cite web |title=William III (1650–1702) (Henry Cheere (1703–1781)) Bank of England Museum |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/william-iii-16501702-256600 |website=Art UK |access-date=21 January 2024}}</ref> lauded in an accompanying Latin inscription as the bank's founder (''conditor'');<ref name="Allen1828" /> at the opposite end, a large [[Venetian window]] looked out on St Christopher's churchyard.

====Expansion====
[[File:St Christopher le Stocks.gif|thumb|The Threadneedle Street front in 1773, after the addition of Taylor's east wing but before the demolition of St Christopher le Stocks (left)]]
In the second half of the 18th century the bank gradually acquired neighbouring plots of land to enable it to expand, and after 1765 new buildings began to be added by the bank's newly appointed architect Robert Taylor. North-west of the Pay Hall, overlooking St Christopher's churchyard to the south, Taylor built a suite of rooms for the Directors of the bank centred on a new (much larger) Court Room and Committee Room (When the bank was rebuilt in the 1920s-30s, these  rooms were removed from their original ground-floor location and reconstructed on the first floor; they continue to be used for meetings of the bank's Court of Directors and Monetary Policy Committee respectively.).<ref>{{cite web |title=Court Room |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/bankofengland/6220545302 |website=Flickr |date=7 October 2011 |publisher=Bank of England |access-date=3 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Committee Room |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/bankofengland/6220027309 |website=Flickr |date=7 October 2011 |publisher=Bank of England |access-date=10 January 2024}}</ref> East of the Pay Hall, Taylor built a suite of halls and offices dedicated to the management of stocks and dividends, which more or less doubled the size of the bank's footprint (extending it as far as Bartholomew Lane).<ref name="Kynaston2017">{{cite book |last1=Kynaston |first1=David |title=Till Time's Last Sand: A History of the Bank of England 1694-2013 |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |pages=60–62}}</ref> These rooms were centred on a large Rotunda, also known as the [[Stock exchange|Brokers' Exchange]], where dealing in Government Stock took place; around it were arranged four sizeable Transfer Offices, each corresponding with a different fund (as described in the 1820s: 'In each office under the several letters of the alphabet, are arranged the books on which the names of all persons having property in the funds are registered, as well as the particulars of their respective interests').<ref name="Allen1828">{{cite book |last1=Allen |first1=Thomas |title=The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent (Volume 3) |date=1828 |publisher=Cowie & Strange |location=London |pages=221–245}}</ref> All these offices were top-lit, to avoid the need for windows in the external walls.

[[File:A view of the Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London (NYPL Hades-280166-1253467).tiff|thumb|right|The bank in 1797: matching east and west wings by Sir Robert Taylor flank Sampson's centrepiece of 1733.]]
In 1782 the church of St Christopher le Stocks was demolished, allowing the bank to expand westwards along Threadneedle Street. The new west wing was completed to Taylor's design in 1786 (its frontage matching that of Taylor's earlier east wing): it housed the Reduced Annuities Office, the Cheque Office and the Dividend Warrant Office (among others). Immediately to the north lay the former churchyard of St Christopher le Stocks, which was preserved within the complex of buildings as a garden (known as the 'Garden Court'). North of Bullion Court, Taylor built a new four-storey Library, to house the bank's expanding collection of archives.

====The Bank Picquet====
The church's demolition had been prompted by the 1780 [[Gordon Riots]], during which rioters reportedly climbed on the church to throw projectiles at the buildings of the bank. During the riots, in June 1780, the Lord Mayor of London petitioned the Secretary of State to send a military guard to protect the bank and the Mansion House.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Bank Picquet: its function and history |date=1963 |publisher=Bank of England |location=London |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/archive/publications/bank-picquet.pdf |access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref> Thenceforward a nightly guard (the '[[Bank Picquet]]') was provided by soldiers of the [[Household Brigade]] (a practice which continued until 1973). To house the guard Taylor built a barracks (accessed from a separate entrance on Princes Street) in the north-west corner of the site.

====John Soane's rebuilding====

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Bank of England Site Act 1793
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act to enable the Governor and Company of the Bank of England to purchase certain Houses and Ground contiguous to the Bank of England.
| year                  = 1793
| citation              = [[33 Geo. 3]]. c. 15
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 28 March 1793
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
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| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
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| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
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| collapsed             = yes
}}
[[File:Bank of England - Soane's dividend office edited.jpg|thumb|right|The Dividend Office as rebuilt by John Soane]]
Sir Robert Taylor died in 1788 and in his place the bank appointed [[John Soane]] as Architect and Surveyor (he would remain in post until 1827). Under his direction, the bank was further expanded and partially rebuilt, bit by bit but to a cohesive plan. A survey of the buildings, undertaken at the start of his tenure, identified some problems, which were promptly remedied by Soane: for example in 1795 he rebuilt the Rotunda and two of the adjacent Transfer Offices (the Bank Stock Office and the Four Per Cent Office), replacing Taylor's timber roofs, which were leaking, with more durable stonework.<ref name="Francis1848" /> At the same time Soane was tasked with purchasing properties to the north-east, with compulsory purchase powers granted by the '''{{visible anchor|Bank of England Site Act 1793}}''' ([[33 Geo. 3]]. c. 15), so as to enable the bank to expand in that direction as far as Lothbury. Between 1794 and 1800 he designed a cohesive set of buildings within the new irregularly-shaped site: he reconfigured Bullion Court and provided a new entrance route for vehicles from the north, which was named Lothbury Court;<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=Brian |title=Sir John Soane & The Bank of England |website=Heritage Group |publisher=Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers |url=http://www.hevac-heritage.org/built_environment/biographies/surnames_S-W/soane/S1-SOANE.pdf |access-date=3 January 2024}}</ref> to the west of this he built a new Chief Cashier's office, and rooms for the Secretary and Chief Accountant; to the east he constructed a new Library block and added a fifth Transfer Office (the [[Consols]] Transfer Office) to the north of the other four.<ref name="ProjectSoane">{{cite web |title=The Bank of England |url=https://projectsoane.wordpress.com/home/all-about-the-bank/the-bank-of-england/ |website=Project Soane |date=14 July 2017 |access-date=3 January 2024}}</ref>

====The Brokers' Exchange in the Bank====
[[File:Phillips(1804) p324 - The Rotunda in the Bank of England.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Soane's Rotunda, when still in use as a trading floor (1804)]]
In the late 18th and early 19th century, prior to the establishment of the [[London Stock Exchange]], the Rotunda in the Bank of England was used as a [[trading floor]] 'where [[Stockbroker|stock-brokers]], [[Stockjobber|stock-jobbers]], and other persons, meet for the purpose of transacting business in public funds'.<ref name="Phillips1805" /> Branching off from the Rotunda were 'offices appropriated to the management of each particular stock' containing books listing every individual's registered interest in the fund. The use of the Rotunda for trading ceased in 1838, but it continued to be used for the cashing of fundholders' dividend warrants.<ref name="Francis1848">{{cite book |last1=Francis |first1=John |title=History of the Bank of England, its Times and Traditions (vol. II) |date=1848 |publisher=Willoughby & Co. |location=London |pages=226–232 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

====Conflicts and credit crises====
[[File:Political-ravishment, or the old lady of Threadneedle-Street in danger! (BM 1851,0901.869).jpg|thumb|left|Satirical cartoon protesting against the introduction of paper money, by [[James Gillray]], 1797. The "Old Lady of Threadneedle St" (the bank personified) is ravished by [[William Pitt the Younger]].]]
The [[British credit crisis of 1772-1773|credit crisis of 1772]] has been described as the first modern banking crisis faced by the Bank of England.<ref>Rockoff, Hugh T., Upon Daedalian Wings of Paper Money: Adam Smith and the Crisis of 1772 (December 2009). NBER Working Paper No. w15594, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1525772 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801163304/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1525772 |date=1 August 2022}}</ref> The whole [[City of London]] was in uproar when [[Alexander Fordyce]] was declared [[bankrupt]].<ref>Clapham, J. (1944) The Bank of England, p. 246-247</ref> In August 1773, the Bank of England assisted the EIC with a loan.<ref>Clapham, J. (1944) The Bank of England, p. 250</ref> The strain upon the reserves of the Bank of England was not eased until towards the end of the year.

During the [[American War of Independence]], business for the bank was so good that [[George Washington]] remained a shareholder throughout the period.<ref name="veconomist">{{Cite news |date=16 September 2017 |title=The many, often competing, jobs of the Bank of England |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21728876-new-book-shows-how-hard-it-central-bankers-please-all-masters-many-often |url-status=live |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915114457/https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21728876-new-book-shows-how-hard-it-central-bankers-please-all-masters-many-often |archive-date=15 September 2017}}</ref>

By the bank's charter renewal in 1781, it was also the bankers' bank&nbsp;– keeping enough gold to pay its notes on demand until 26 February 1797 when [[French Revolution|war]] had so diminished [[gold reserves]] that – following an invasion scare caused by the [[Battle of Fishguard]] days earlier – the government prohibited the bank from paying out in gold by the passing of the bank [[Bank Restriction Act 1797|Restriction Act 1797]]. This prohibition lasted until 1821.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1862-01-27 |title=War Finance in England; The Bank Restriction Act of 1797—Suspension of Specie Payments for Twenty-four Years—How to Prevent Depreciation of the Currency |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1862/01/27/archives/war-finance-in-england-the-bank-restriction-act-of-1797suspension.html |url-status=live |access-date=2022-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217211305/https://www.nytimes.com/1862/01/27/archives/war-finance-in-england-the-bank-restriction-act-of-1797suspension.html |archive-date=17 February 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1798, during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], a Corps of bank [[British Volunteer Corps|Volunteers]] was formed (of between 450 and 500 men) to defend the bank in the event of an invasion. It was disbanded in 1802, but promptly re-formed the following year at the start of the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. Its soldiers were trained, in the event of an invasion, to remove the gold and silver from the vaults to a remote location, along with the banknote printing presses and certain important records.<ref>{{cite web |title=Record (Letter from Henry Dundas MP...) |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=13A84%2F7%2F84 |website=Bank of England Archive |access-date=12 January 2024}}</ref> An armoury was provided on site at Threadneedle Street for their arms and [[accoutrements]].<ref name="Allen1828" /> The Corps was finally disbanded in 1814.