Bank of England note issues was decided to replace the 10/- note with the 50p coin. The ten-shilling note was withdrawn from circulation on 20 November 1970 following the introduction on 14 October 1969 of the fifty pence coin. The first Bank of England £1 note was issued on 2 March 1797 under the direction of Thomas Raikes, Governor of the Bank of England, and according to the orders of the government of William Pitt the Younger, in response to the need for smaller denomination banknotes to replace gold coin during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Bank of England's first £1 note since 1845 was
Bank of England the start of the First World War, the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1914 was passed, which granted temporary powers to HM Treasury for issuing banknotes to the values of £1 and 10/- (ten shillings). Treasury notes had full legal tender status and were not convertible into gold through the Bank; they replaced the gold coin in circulation to prevent a run on sterling and to enable raw material purchases for armament production. These notes featured an image of King George V (Bank of England notes did not begin to display an image of the monarch until 1960). The wording