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
Humphry Morice (Governor of the Bank of England) in 1720, and on 5 June 1722, he married Catherine, daughter of Peter Paggen of Wandsworth, Surrey, and widow of William Hale. They had two sons, Humphry (1723–1785) and Nicholas (d. 1748). Morice served as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England from 1725 to 1726, and as Governor from 1727 to 1729. During this period, he defrauded the bank of £29,000 by presenting fictitious bills of exchange for discounting by the Bank. He died suddenly on 16 November 1731, possibly of gout, but he was widely believed to have poisoned himself to forestall exposure. After his death, the enormous