Chancellor of the Exchequer when James Callaghan was the first chancellor to break with tradition when he used a newer box. Prior to Gladstone, a generic red Despatch Box of varying design and specification was used. The practice is said to have begun in the late 16th century, when Queen Elizabeth I's representative Francis Throckmorton presented the Spanish Ambassador, Bernardino de Mendoza, with a specially constructed red briefcase filled with black puddings. In July 1997, Gordon Brown became the second chancellor to use a new box for the Budget. Made by industrial trainees at Babcock Rosyth Defence Ltd ship and submarine dockyard in Fife,
Exchequer of the Jews Exchequer of the Jews The Exchequer of the Jews (Latin: "Scaccarium Judaeorum") was a division of the Court of Exchequer at Westminster, which recorded and regulated the taxes and the law-cases of the Jews in England. It operated from the late 1190s until the eventual expulsion of the Jews in 1290. Jews began to settle in England soon after the Norman Conquest in 1066. For the most part they escaped the massacres during the First (1096–1099) and Second (1145–1149) Crusades, and despite occasional imposition of fines and special levies, their numbers and prosperity increased under the protection of the king.