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 The ten-shilling note was withdrawn from circulation on 20 November 1970 following the introduction on 14 October 1969 of the fifty pence coin.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 £10 note tradition of portraying historical British figures on the reverse continued with the E series, first issued in 1992, with an image of Charles Dickens appearing. Series E notes are multicoloured, although they are predominantly orange-brown. From series E onward Bank of England £10 notes feature 'windowed' metal thread; this thread appears as a dashed line, yet forms a single line when held up to the light. The revised Series E £10 note was introduced in 2000. It features a portrait of Charles Darwin on the back as well as an illustration of and images of various flora and fauna. The