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
Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII (full title: "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII: preserved in the Public Record Office, the British Museum, and elsewhere in England"; often abbreviated in citations as L&P) is a multi-volume edition of documents from the reign of Henry VIII of England. The series was edited by J. S. Brewer, James Gairdner and R. H. Brodie, and originally published between 1862 and 1932. It remains a key resource for historians of the period, and is now freely