History of the British national debt both government borrowing and the national debt have risen dramatically, reaching around 70% of GDP by the end of 2012. The origins of the British national debt can be found during the reign of William III, who engaged a syndicate of City traders and merchants to offer for sale an issue of government debt. This syndicate soon evolved into the Bank of England, eventually financing the wars of the Duke of Marlborough and later Imperial conquests. The establishment of the bank was devised by Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, in 1694, to the plan which had been proposed by
A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James II A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James II A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James II (1808) is a history of England during the first year of James II's reign (1685), written by the Whig MP Charles James Fox. It was left unfinished at his death in 1806 and was not published until 1808. Ever since the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Whigs had appealed to that event as a great deliverance from the attempt by James II to set up an absolute monarchy. Fox (who was James' great-great-great nephew) was a