Portraits on banknotes
25 Mar '21 12:292 editsThe thread about Churchill's legacy reminded me of a thread I've intended to start for a while, and it's timely since the Bank of England has just unveiled the last of our new polymer banknotes. The new £50 note will feature mathematician Alan Turing. He joins painter J.M.W. Turner on the £20 note, author Jane Austen on the £10, and... Winston Churchill on the £5.
They replace steam engine pioneers Matthew Boulton and James Watt, jointly on the old £50, economist Adam Smith on the £20, scientist Charles Darwin on the £10, and philanthropist Elizabeth Fry on the £5. Older notes featured people such as architect Christopher Wren, nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare and the Duke of Wellington.
So there's been a mixture of eminent Britons in most fields, including several women. Turing will be (probably) the first gay person to feature on a banknote. So far, everyone featured has been white British. I note that in the United States proposals to replace Andrew Jackson on the 20-dollar bill with African American abolitionist Harriet Tubman have been controversial; shelved by Trump, they have now been revived by Biden.
Everyone featured on British banknotes to date has been dead for at least half a century before appearing, with the exception of the reigning monarch who features on the other side. The standard criteria governing the choice are that the Bank of England "looks at who has previously featured, to allow for a reflection of the diversity of society. It does not accept fictional characters, or anyone still living (with the exception of the reigning monarch), but instead aims for individuals that are both widely admired, and are considered to have made an important contribution to UK society and culture. The final criterion is that the individual has an easily recognisable portrait available for use."
So the question is: you are in charge of resigning your country's banknotes. If you are in the eurozone, you can either choose to redesign the euro, or imagine your country has left the euro and commissioned you to design the new Dutch Guilder (or whatever). If you are not a native of a particular country, but live there or have connections there, you may redesign that country's notes (I might work on the UK's, where I was born, Germany's, where I hold citizenship, and Japan's, where I have professional connections).
Whose portraits would you put on the banknotes? On which denominations would you put them, and why? What criteria would you apply to make the decision?
They replace steam engine pioneers Matthew Boulton and James Watt, jointly on the old £50, economist Adam Smith on the £20, scientist Charles Darwin on the £10, and philanthropist Elizabeth Fry on the £5. Older notes featured people such as architect Christopher Wren, nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare and the Duke of Wellington.
So there's been a mixture of eminent Britons in most fields, including several women. Turing will be (probably) the first gay person to feature on a banknote. So far, everyone featured has been white British. I note that in the United States proposals to replace Andrew Jackson on the 20-dollar bill with African American abolitionist Harriet Tubman have been controversial; shelved by Trump, they have now been revived by Biden.
Everyone featured on British banknotes to date has been dead for at least half a century before appearing, with the exception of the reigning monarch who features on the other side. The standard criteria governing the choice are that the Bank of England "looks at who has previously featured, to allow for a reflection of the diversity of society. It does not accept fictional characters, or anyone still living (with the exception of the reigning monarch), but instead aims for individuals that are both widely admired, and are considered to have made an important contribution to UK society and culture. The final criterion is that the individual has an easily recognisable portrait available for use."
So the question is: you are in charge of resigning your country's banknotes. If you are in the eurozone, you can either choose to redesign the euro, or imagine your country has left the euro and commissioned you to design the new Dutch Guilder (or whatever). If you are not a native of a particular country, but live there or have connections there, you may redesign that country's notes (I might work on the UK's, where I was born, Germany's, where I hold citizenship, and Japan's, where I have professional connections).
Whose portraits would you put on the banknotes? On which denominations would you put them, and why? What criteria would you apply to make the decision?
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