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
Deputy Governor of the Bank of England Deputy Governor of the Bank of England A Deputy Governor of the Bank of England is the holder of one of a small number of senior positions at the Bank of England, reporting directly to the Governor. According to the original charter of 27 July 1694 the Bank's affairs would be supervised by a Governor, the Deputy Governor and 24 directors. Since then, however, the role of Deputy Governor has been split and redefined three times (by the Bank of England Act 1998, the Financial Services Act 2012 and again in 2014), such that, as of May 2016, there are