Over its three centuries, the institution nicknamed the Old Lady of Thread needle Street has built up as many stories as there are gold bars in its vaults.
International News: When the Bank of England’s 121st governor takes over from Mark Carney next year, he or she will be reminded that the world’s second-oldest central bank is steeped in history.
From funding wars to a buried giant and a roaming ghost, over its three centuries the institution nicknamed the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street has built up as many stories as there are gold bars in the vault.
The BOE’s first job in July 1694, when it opened its doors at rented premises in the Mercer’s Hall in the City of London, was to raise capital for William and Mary’s war against France. It then moved a couple blocks away to the Grocer’s Hall, where it fended off an upstart South Sea Company, which tried to usurp it as the government’s banker.
When that enterprise’s bubble popped in 1720, the BOE cemented its position as the home of stable money, and in 1734 moved to its legendary address on Threadneedle Street. The BOE bought the neighboring St. Christopher’s church after a group of protesters climbed the steeple during the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780 and flung missiles into the bank.
It promised to leave the graves of the church undisturbed and refurbished the graveyard as its garden court. At the end of the 18th century, the garden would once again serve to bury the dead when a giant was laid to rest.
At 6 foot, 7.5 inches (202 cm), William Jenkins was a hulk at a time when the average man was 5 foot 7.
Sickly in the last weeks of his life, the bank teller developed a crippling fear that body snatchers might dig him up and sell his corpse to medical practitioners eager to inspect and display it. This was a rational fear in 1798 — the going rate for a corpse of that size was 200 guineas — about 25,000 pounds ($32,000) in today’s money.
From funding wars to a buried giant and a roaming ghost, over its three centuries the institution nicknamed the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street has built up as many stories as there are gold bars in the vault.
The BOE’s first job in July 1694, when it opened its doors at rented premises in the Mercer’s Hall in the City of London, was to raise capital for William and Mary’s war against France. It then moved a couple blocks away to the Grocer’s Hall, where it fended off an upstart South Sea Company, which tried to usurp it as the government’s banker.
When that enterprise’s bubble popped in 1720, the BOE cemented its position as the home of stable money, and in 1734 moved to its legendary address on Threadneedle Street. The BOE bought the neighboring St. Christopher’s church after a group of protesters climbed the steeple during the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780 and flung missiles into the bank.
It promised to leave the graves of the church undisturbed and refurbished the graveyard as its garden court. At the end of the 18th century, the garden would once again serve to bury the dead when a giant was laid to rest.
At 6 foot, 7.5 inches (202 cm), William Jenkins was a hulk at a time when the average man was 5 foot 7.
Sickly in the last weeks of his life, the bank teller developed a crippling fear that body snatchers might dig him up and sell his corpse to medical practitioners eager to inspect and display it. This was a rational fear in 1798 — the going rate for a corpse of that size was 200 guineas — about 25,000 pounds ($32,000) in today’s money.
