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
Coronation of the British monarch was the second recension which was used by Edgar in 973 and by subsequent Anglo-Saxon and early Norman kings. A third recension was probably compiled during the reign of Henry I and was used at the coronation of his successor, Stephen, in 1135. While retaining the most important elements of the Anglo-Saxon rite, it borrowed heavily from the consecration of the Holy Roman Emperor from the "Pontificale Romano-Germanicum", a book of German liturgy compiled in Mainz in 961, thus bringing the English tradition into line with continental practice. It remained in use until the coronation of Edward II in 1308