Bank of England note issues Queen Elizabeth II agreed to allow the use of her portrait on the notes. The Series C £1 note was withdrawn on 31 May 1979. On 9 February 1978 the Series D design (known as the "Pictorial Series") featuring Sir Isaac Newton on the reverse was issued, but following the introduction on 21 April 1983 of the £1 coin, the note was withdrawn from circulation on 11 March 1988. The first Bank of England £5 note was issued in 1793 in response to the need for smaller denomination banknotes to replace gold coin during the French Revolutionary Wars. (Previously the
Bank of England £50 note Bank of England £50 note The Bank of England £50 note is a banknote of the pound sterling. It is the highest denomination of banknote issued for public circulation by the Bank of England. The current cotton note, first issued in 2011, bears the image of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and the images of engineer and scientist James Watt and industrialist and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton on the reverse. Fifty pound notes were introduced by the Bank of England for the first time in 1725. The earliest notes were handwritten and were issued as needed to individuals. These notes