History of the British national debt History of the British national debt The history of the British national debt can be traced back to the reign of William III, who engaged a syndicate of City traders and merchants to offer for sale an issue of government debt, which evolved into the Bank of England. In 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, British government debt reached a peak of £1 billion (that was more than 200% of GDP). At the beginning of the 20th century the national debt had been gradually reduced to around 30 percent of GDP. However, during World War I the British
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