Currency Research

Research into currencies

All current of the bank of England includes an portrait image of her Majesty the Queen. However, on the back of each bank notes there are other iconic British figures printed. The Bank of England consists of 4 banknotes that are £50, £20, £10 and £5.

On the £5 note, it has a portrait image of Elizabeth Fry. Elizabeth Fry was a role model and inspired others to take care of one another, she is a famous icon and was a reformer. She had seen that prisoners were being treated unfairly as they were living in a poor, dark and dangerous environment. Elizabeth was the first woman to campaign for better prisons as she thought that business should also be treated as everybody else. She had brought clean clothes, started a school and taught women prisoners to knit and sew so that they can earn money.

Elizabeth also helped homeless people where she had set up shelters in areas where homeless children had no food or a place to sleep.

Charles Darwin’s portrait is placed on the back of the £10 note. Darwin was a scientist and was chosen to become the naturalist on the board HMS Beagle, which took five years. The voyage helped Darwin to collect specimens in which she could document his findings into his journal. He published a book during his return from the trip and it was called The Voyage of the Beagle. however, during his adventure he contracted the disease which made him seriously ill. Darwin continued to write about specimens and so he created The Theory of Evolution.

Adam Smith was a hugely influential Scottish political economist and philosopher and has note a book called ‘The Wealth of Nations’. He is placed on the back of the £20 note. He was a professor of logic at Glasgow University, a year later he also became professor of mortal philosophy. Smith also tutored Henry, the future Duke of Buccleuch. Smith moved to London in 1776 where he published a volume that covered theology, ethics, politics and law. In 1778, he was appointed Commissioner of Customs in Edinburgh and became a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

On the £50 note, there are two iconic figures who are Matthew Boulton and James Watt. Both Matthew and James were responsible for accelerating the process of manufacturing stem engines during the 18th and 19th century. inventions made a huge positive impact on the Industrial Revolution.

The £20 note from when it initially had the image of Sir Edward Elgar was redesigned because the £20 note was the most popular banknote to be counterfeited. Banknotes are often redesigned due to counterfeit and also because notes wear out and can get damaged after a while so they are renewed after a while.

People's Republic of China uses the Yuan currency which is also known as the renminbi and consists of 10 banknotes. The banknotes in order from the largest amount to the smallest amount is:

100 yuan, 50 yuan, 20 yuan, 10 yuan, 5 yuan, 2 yuan, 1 yuan, 5 jiao, 2 jiao and 1 jiao. On the all the yuan notes, they have a portrait image of Mao Zedong.