ABSTRACT
Despite the influences of the French Revolution, the nineteenth century, as we think of it, did not really begin on i January 1800. Centuries seldom do this. In 1800, George III was still on the throne, Napoleon still the enemy, railways were unheard of, Queen Victoria had not been born, and for some time the eighteenth century went on. The industrial revolution meanwhile was continuing in full spate. Since 1765 the population of Birmingham had doubled and had now reached 70,000. For country banking the years around 1790 had been a prosperous time and many new banks had appeared. All the four Birmingham banks had weathered the anxieties caused by the war against France, including those of its onset in 1793, when many banks failed, and those caused under threat of invasion in 1797 when the Bank of England, ceasing to give gold for its own notes, shook confidence in those of other banks, and a Birmingham commentator could declare:
The Credit of our Bankers firmly stood,
As sterling Goldtheir Noteswere full as good,
Nor e’er were question’d – all throughout the land.
The Reason’s plain — They pay ‘upon demand.’ 1
