Editing Bank of England (section)

====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.