Coins of the pound sterling
The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories is denominated in pennies and pounds sterling (symbol "£", commercial GBP), and ranges in value from one penny sterling to two pounds. Since decimalisation, on 15 February 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 (new) pence. Before decimalisation, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound.
British coins are minted by the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales. The Royal Mint also commissions the coins' designs.
In addition to the circulating coinage, the UK also mints commemorative decimal coins (crowns) in the denomination of five pounds. Ceremonial Maundy money and bullion coinage of gold sovereigns, half sovereigns, and gold and silver Britannia coins are also produced. Some territories outside the United Kingdom, which use the pound sterling, produce their own coinage, with the same denominations and specifications as the UK coinage but with local designs.
Currently circulating coinage
The current decimal coins consist of one penny and two pence in copper-plated steel, five pence and ten pence in nickel-plated steel, equilateral curve heptagonal twenty pence and fifty pence in cupronickel, and bimetallic one pound and two pound. All circulating coins have an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, and various national and regional designs, and the denomination, on the reverse. All current coins carry an abbreviated Latin inscription whose full form, ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX, translates to "Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith". Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, the effigy and inscription will be updated to fit the new monarch, King Charles III.[1]
Denomination Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Introduced
One penny Queen Elizabeth II Crowned portcullis with chains (1971–2008)
Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present) 20.3 mm 1.52 mm 3.56 g Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin) Smooth 1971
1.65 mm Copper-plated steel 1992
Two pence Plume of ostrich feathers within a coronet (1971–2008)
Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present) 25.9 mm 1.85 mm 7.12 g Bronze 1971
2.03 mm Copper-plated steel 1992
Five pence[a] Queen Elizabeth II Crowned thistle (1968–2008)
Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present) 18 mm 1.7 mm 3.25 g Cupronickel (3:1) Milled 1990
1.89 mm Nickel-plated steel 2012
Ten pence[a] Crowned lion (1968–2008)
Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present) 24.5 mm 1.85 mm 6.5 g Cupronickel (3:1) 1992
2.05 mm Nickel-plated steel 2012
Twenty pence Crowned Tudor Rose 21.4 mm 1.7 mm 5 g Cupronickel (5:1) Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon 1982
Segment of the Royal Arms 2008
Fifty pence[a] Britannia and lion 27.3 mm 1.78 mm 8 g Cupronickel (3:1) Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon 1997
Various commemorative designs 1998
Segment of the Royal Arms 2008
One pound Queen Elizabeth II Rose, leek, thistle, and shamrock encircled by a coronet 23.03–23.43 mm 2.8 mm 8.75 g Inner: Nickel-plated alloy
Outer: Nickel-brass Alternately milled and plain (12-sided) 28 March 2017[2]
Two pounds[b] Abstract concentric design representing technological development 28.4 mm 2.5 mm 12 g Inner: Cupronickel
Outer: Nickel-brass Milled with variable inscription and/or decoration 1997 (issued 1998)
Various commemorative designs 1999
Britannia 2015
The specifications and dates of introduction of the 5p, 10p, and 50p coins refer to the current versions. These coins were originally issued in larger sizes in 1968 and 1969 respectively.
This coin was originally issued in a smaller size in a single metal in 1986 for special issues only. It was redesigned as a bi-metallic issue for general circulation in 1997.
Production and distribution
All genuine UK coins are produced by the Royal Mint. The same coinage is used across the United Kingdom: unlike banknotes, local issues of coins are not produced for different parts of the UK. The pound coin until 2016 was produced in regional designs, but these circulate equally in all parts of the UK (see UK designs, below).
Every year, newly minted coins are checked for size, weight, and composition at a Trial of the Pyx. Essentially the same procedure has been used since the 13th century. Assaying is now done by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths on behalf of HM Treasury.
The 1p and 2p coins from 1971 are the oldest standard-issue coins still in circulation. Pre-decimal crowns are the oldest coins in general that are still legal tender, although they are in practice never encountered in general circulation.[3]
Coins from the British dependencies and territories that use sterling as their currency are sometimes found in change in other jurisdictions. Strictly, they are not legal tender in the United Kingdom; however, since they have the same specifications as UK coins, they are sometimes tolerated in commerce, and can readily be used in vending machines.
UK-issued coins are, on the other hand, generally fully accepted and freely mixed in other British dependencies and territories that use the pound.
An extensive coinage redesign was commissioned by the Royal Mint in 2005, and new designs were gradually introduced into the circulating British coinage from summer 2008. Except for the £1 coin, the pre-2008 coins remain legal tender and are expected to stay in circulation for the foreseeable future.
The estimated volume in circulation as at March 2016 is:[4]
Denomination Number of
pieces
(millions) Face value
(£m)
Two pounds 479 957.036
One pound 1,671 1,671.328
Fifty pence 1,053 526.153
Twenty-five pence 81 20
Twenty pence 3,004 600.828
Ten pence 1,713 171.312
Five pence 4,075 203.764
Two pence 6,714 134.273
One penny 11,430 114.299
Total 30,139 4,643.658
History of pre-decimal coinage
The penny before 1500
See also: Penny (English coin) and Scottish coinage
The English silver penny first appeared in the 8th century CE in adoption of Western Europe's Carolingian monetary system wherein 12 pence made a shilling and 20 shillings made a pound. The weight of the English penny was fixed at 22+1⁄2 troy grains (about 1.46 grams) by Offa of Mercia, an 8th-century contemporary of Charlemagne; 240 pennies weighed 5,400 grains or a tower pound (different from the troy pound of 5,760 grains). The silver penny was the only coin minted for 500 years, from c. 780 to 1280.
From the time of Charlemagne until the 12th century, the silver currency of England was made from the highest purity silver available. But there were disadvantages to minting currency of fine silver, notably the level of wear it suffered, and the ease with which coins could be "clipped", or trimmed. In 1158 a new standard for English coinage was established by Henry II with the "Tealby Penny" — the sterling silver standard of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. This was a harder-wearing alloy, yet it was still a rather high grade of silver. It went some way towards discouraging the practice of "clipping", though this practice was further discouraged and largely eliminated with the introduction of the milled edge seen on coins today.
The weight of a silver penny stayed constant at above 22 grains until 1344; afterwards its weight was reduced to 18 grains in 1351, to 15 grains in 1412, to 12 grains in 1464, and to 101⁄2 grains in 1527.
The history of the Royal Mint stretches back to AD 886.[5] For many centuries production was in London, initially at the Tower of London, and then at premises nearby in Tower Hill in what is today known as Royal Mint Court. In the 1970s production was transferred to Llantrisant in South Wales.[6] Historically Scotland and England had separate coinage; the last Scottish coins were struck in 1709 shortly after union with England.[7]
The penny after 1500
During the reign of Henry VIII, the silver content was gradually debased, reaching a low of one-third silver. However, in Edward VI's reign in 1551, this debased coinage was discontinued in favor of a return to sterling silver with the penny weighing 8 grains. The first crowns and half-crowns were produced that year. From this point onwards till 1920, sterling was the rule.
Coins were originally hand-hammered — an ancient technique in which two dies are struck together with a blank coin between them. This was the traditional method of manufacturing coins in the Western world from the classical Greek era onwards, in contrast with Asia, where coins were traditionally cast. Milled (that is, machine-made) coins were produced first during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and periodically during the subsequent reigns of James I and Charles I, but there was initially opposition to mechanisation from the moneyers, who ensured that most coins continued to be produced by hammering. All British coins produced since 1662 have been milled.
By 1601 it was decreed that one troy ounce or 480 grains of sterling silver be minted into 62 pennies (i.e. each penny weighed 7.742 grains). By 1696, the currency had been seriously weakened by an increase in clipping during the Nine Years' War[8] to the extent that it was decided to recall and replace all hammered silver coinage in circulation.[9] The exercise came close to disaster due to fraud and mismanagement,[10] but was saved by the personal intervention of Isaac Newton after his appointment as Warden of the Mint, a post which was intended to be a sinecure, but which he took seriously.[9] Newton was subsequently given the post of Master of the Mint in 1699. Following the 1707 union between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, Newton used his previous experience to direct the 1707–1710 Scottish recoinage, resulting in a common currency for the new Kingdom of Great Britain. After 15 September 1709 no further silver coins were ever struck in Scotland.[11]
As a result of a report written by Newton on 21 September 1717 to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury[12] the bimetallic relationship between gold coins and silver coins was changed by Royal proclamation on 22 December 1717, forbidding the exchange of gold guineas for more than 21 silver shillings.[13] Due to differing valuations in other European countries this unintentionally resulted in a silver shortage, as silver coins were used to pay for imports, while exports were paid for in gold, effectively moving Britain from the silver standard to its first gold standard, rather than the bimetallic standard implied by the proclamation.
The coinage reform of 1816 set up a weight/value ratio and physical sizes for silver coins. Each troy ounce of sterling silver was henceforth minted into 66 pence or 51⁄2 shillings.
In 1920, the silver content of all British coins was reduced from 92.5% to 50%, with some of the remainder consisting of manganese, which caused the coins to tarnish to a very dark colour after they had been in circulation for long. Silver was eliminated altogether in 1947, except for Maundy coinage, which returned to the pre-1920 92.5% silver composition.
The 1816 weight/value ratio and size system survived the debasement of silver in 1920, and the adoption of token coins of cupronickel in 1947. It even persisted after decimalisation for those coins which had equivalents and continued to be minted with their values in new pence. The UK finally abandoned it in 1992 when smaller, more convenient, "silver" coins were introduced.
History of decimal coinage
Decimalisation
Since decimalisation on 15 February 1971 the pound (symbol "£") has been divided into 100 pence. (Prior to decimalisation the pound was divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 [old] pence; thus, there were 240 [old] pence to the pound.) The pound remained as Britain's currency unit after decimalisation (unlike in many other British commonwealth countries, which dropped the pound upon decimalisation by introducing dollars or new units worth 10 shillings or 1⁄2 pound). The following coins were introduced with these reverse designs:
Half penny, 1971–1984: A crown, symbolising the monarch.
One penny, 1971–2007: A crowned portcullis with chains (the badge of the Houses of Parliament).
Two pence, 1971–2007: The Prince of Wales's feathers: a plume of ostrich feathers within a coronet.
Five pence, 1968–2007: The Badge of Scotland, a thistle royally crowned.
Ten pence, 1968–2007: The lion of England royally crowned.
Fifty pence, 1969–2007: Britannia and lion.
The first decimal coins – the five pence (5p) and ten pence (10p) — were introduced in 1968 in the run-up to decimalisation in order to familiarise the public with the new system. These initially circulated alongside the pre-decimal coinage and had the same size and value as the existing one shilling and two shilling coins respectively. The fifty pence (50p) coin followed in 1969, replacing the old ten shilling note. The remaining decimal coins – at the time, the half penny (1⁄2p), penny (1p) and two pence (2p) — were issued in 1971 at decimalisation. A quarter-penny coin, to be struck in aluminium, was proposed at the time decimalisation was being planned, but was never minted.
The new coins were initially marked with the wording NEW PENNY (singular) or NEW PENCE (plural). The word "new" was dropped in 1982. The symbol "p" was adopted to distinguish the new pennies from the old, which used the symbol "d" (from the Latin denarius, a coin used in the Roman Empire).
Updates 1982–1998
In the years since decimalisation, a number of changes have been made to the coinage; these new denominations were introduced with the following designs:
Twenty pence, 1982–2007: A crowned Tudor Rose, a traditional heraldic emblem of England (with incuse design and lettering).
One pound, 1983–2016: various designs; see One pound (British coin).
Two pounds, 1997–2014: An abstract design of concentric circles, representing technological development from the Iron Age to the modern-day electronic age.
Additionally:
The halfpenny was discontinued in 1984.
The composition of the 1p and 2p was changed in 1992 from bronze to copper-plated steel without changing the design.
The sizes of the 5p, 10p and 50p coins were reduced in 1990, 1992 and 1997, respectively, also without changing the design.
The twenty pence (20p) coin was introduced in 1982 to fill the gap between the 10p and 50p coins. The pound coin (£1) was introduced in 1983 to replace the Bank of England £1 banknote which was discontinued in 1984 (although the Scottish banks continued producing them for some time afterwards; the last of them, the Royal Bank of Scotland £1 note, is still issued in a small volume as of 2021). The designs on the £1 coin changed annually in a largely five-year cycle, until the introduction of the new 12-sided £1 coin in 2017.
The decimal halfpenny coin was demonetised in 1984 as its value was by then too small to be useful. The pre-decimal sixpence, shilling and two shilling coins, which had continued to circulate alongside the decimal coinage with values of 2+1⁄2p, 5p and 10p respectively, were finally withdrawn in 1980, 1990 and 1993 respectively. The double florin and crown, with values of 20p and 25p respectively, have technically not been withdrawn, but in practice are never seen in general circulation.
In the 1990s, the Royal Mint reduced the sizes of the 5p, 10p, and 50p coins. As a consequence, the oldest 5p coins in circulation date from 1990, the oldest 10p coins from 1992 and the oldest 50p coins come from 1997. Since 1997, many special commemorative designs of 50p have been issued. Some of these are found fairly frequently in circulation and some are rare. They are all legal tender.
In 1992 the composition of the 1p and 2p coins was changed from bronze to copper-plated steel. Due to their high copper content (97%), the intrinsic value of pre-1992 1p and 2p coins increased with the surge in metal prices of the mid-2000s, until by 2006 the coins would, if melted down, have been worth about 50% more than their face value.[14]
A circulating bimetallic two pound (£2) coin was introduced in 1998 (first minted in, and dated, 1997). There had previously been unimetallic commemorative £2 coins which did not normally circulate. This tendency to use the two pound coin for commemorative issues has continued since the introduction of the bimetallic coin, and a few of the older unimetallic coins have since entered circulation.
There are also commemorative issues of crowns. Until 1981, these had a face value of twenty-five pence (25p), equivalent to the five shilling crown used in pre-decimal Britain. However, in 1990 crowns were redenominated with a face value of five pounds (£5)[15] as the previous value was considered not sufficient for such a high-status coin. The size and weight of the coin remained exactly the same. Decimal crowns are generally not found in circulation as their market value is likely to be higher than their face value, but they remain legal tender.
Obverse designs
All modern British coins feature a profile of the current monarch's head on the obverse. There had been only one monarch since decimalisation, Queen Elizabeth II, so her head appears on all decimal coins, facing to the right (see also Monarch's profile, below). However, five different effigies have been used, reflecting the Queen's changing appearance as she has aged. These are the effigies by Mary Gillick (until 1968), Arnold Machin (1968–1984), Raphael Maklouf (1985–1997), Ian Rank-Broadley (1998–2015), and Jody Clark (from 2015).[16] In September 2022, the first portrait of Charles III was revealed, designed by Martin Jennings.[17]
All current coins carry a Latin inscription whose full form is ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX, meaning "Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith". The inscription appears on the coins in any of several abbreviated forms, typically ELIZABETH II D G REG F D. Following the accession of Charles III, this will read as CHARLES III DEI GRATIA REX FIDEI DEFENSOR.
2008 redesign
The Royal Shield formed by six UK coins, with the £1 coin depicting the whole of the shield.
In 2008, UK coins underwent an extensive redesign which eventually changed the reverse designs of all coins, the first wholesale change to British coinage since the first decimal coins were introduced in April 1968.[18] The major design feature was the introduction of a reverse design shared across six coins (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p), that can be pieced together to form an image of the Royal Shield. This was the first time a coin design had been featured across multiple coins in this way.[18] To summarize the reverse design changes made in 2008 and afterwards:
The 1p coin depicts the lower part of the first quarter and the upper part of the third quarter of the shield, showing the lions passant of England and the harp of Ireland respectively
The 2p coin depicts most of the second quarter of the shield, showing the lion rampant of Scotland
The 5p coin depicts the centre of the shield, showing the meeting and parts of the constituent parts of the shield
The 10p coin depicts most of the first quarter of the shield, containing the three lions passant of England
The 20p coin depicts the lower part of the second quarter and upper part of the fourth quarter, showing the lion rampant of Scotland and the lions passant of England respectively
The 50p coin depicts the point of the shield and the bottom portions of the second and third quarters showing the harp of Ireland and lions passant of England respectively
The round, nickel-brass £1 coin from 2008–2016 depicted the whole of the Royal Shield. From 2017 it was changed to a bimetallic 12-sided coin depicting a rose, leek, thistle and shamrock bound by a crown.
The £2 coin from 2015 depicts Britannia.
The original intention was to exclude both the £1 and £2 coins from the redesign because they were "relatively new additions" to the coinage, but it was later decided to include a £1 coin with a complete Royal Shield design from 2008 to 2016,[19] and the 2015 redesign of the £2 coin occurred due to complaints over the disappearance of Britannia's image from the 50p coin in 2008.[20]
On all coins, the beading (ring of small dots) around the edge of the obverses has been removed. The obverse of the 20p coin has also been amended to incorporate the year, which had been on the reverse of the coin since its introduction in 1982 (giving rise to an unusual issue of a mule version without any date at all). The orientation of both sides of the 50p coin has been rotated through 180 degrees, meaning the bottom of the coin is now a corner rather than a flat edge. The numerals showing the decimal value of each coin, previously present on all coins except the £1 and £2, have been removed, leaving the values spelled out in words only.
The redesign was the result of a competition launched by the Royal Mint in August 2005, which closed on 14 November 2005. The competition was open to the public and received over 4,000 entries.[18] The winning entry was unveiled on 2 April 2008, designed by Matthew Dent.[18] The Royal Mint stated the new designs were "reflecting a twenty-first century Britain". An advisor to the Royal Mint described the new coins as "post-modern" and said that this was something that could not have been done 50 years previously.[21]
The redesign was criticised by some for having no specifically Welsh symbol (such as the Welsh Dragon), because the Royal Shield does not include a specifically Welsh symbol. Wrexham Member of Parliament (MP) Ian Lucas, who was also campaigning to have the Welsh Dragon included on the Union Flag, called the omission "disappointing", and stated that he would be writing to the Queen to request that the Royal Standard be changed to include Wales.[22] The Royal Mint stated that "the Shield of the Royal Arms is symbolic of the whole of the United Kingdom and as such, represents Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland."[22] Designer Dent stated "I am a Welshman and proud of it, but I never thought about the fact we did not have a dragon or another representation of Wales on the design because as far as I am concerned Wales is represented on the Royal Arms. This was never an issue for me."[22]
The Royal Mint's choice of an inexperienced coin designer to produce the new coinage was criticised by Virginia Ironside, daughter of Christopher Ironside who designed the previous UK coins. She stated that the new designs were "totally unworkable as actual coins", due to the loss of a numerical currency identifier, and the smaller typeface used.[23]
The German news magazine Der Spiegel claimed that the redesign signalled the UK's intention "not to join the euro any time soon".[24]
Changes after 2008
As of 2012, 5p and 10p coins have been issued in nickel-plated steel, and much of the remaining cupronickel types withdrawn, in order to retrieve more expensive metals. The new coins are 11% thicker to maintain the same weight.[25][26] There are heightened nickel allergy concerns over the new coins. Studies commissioned by the Royal Mint found no increased discharge of nickel from the coins when immersed in artificial sweat. However, an independent study found that the friction from handling results in four times as much nickel exposure as from the older-style coins. Sweden already plans to desist from using nickel in coins from 2015.[27]
In 2016, the £1 coin's composition was changed from a single-metal round shape to a 12-sided bi-metal design, with a slightly larger diameter, and with multiple past designs discontinued in favor of a single, unchanging design. Production of the new coins started in 2016,[28] with the first, dated 2016, entering circulation 28 March 2017.[29]
In February 2015, the Royal Mint announced a new design for the £2 coin featuring Britannia by Antony Dufort, with no change to its bimetallic composition.[30]
Edge inscriptions on British coins used to be commonly encountered on round £1 coins of 1983–2016, but are nowadays found only on £2 coins. The standard-issue £2 coin from 1997 to 2015 carried the edge inscription STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS. The redesigned coin since 2015 has a new edge inscription QUATUOR MARIA VINDICO, Latin for "I will claim the four seas", an inscription previously found on coins bearing the image of Britannia. Other commemorative £2 coins have their own unique edge inscriptions or designs.
Obsolete denominations
The following decimal coins have been withdrawn from circulation and have ceased to be legal tender.
Denomination Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Introduced Withdrawn
Half Penny Queen Elizabeth II St Edward's Crown 17.4 mm 1 mm 1.78 g Bronze Smooth 1971 1984
Five pence* Queen Elizabeth II Crowned Thistle 23.59 mm 1.7 mm 5.65 g Cupronickel Milled 1968 1990
Ten pence* Crowned Lion 28.5 mm 1.85 mm 11.31 g 1992
Fifty pence* Seated Britannia alongside a Lion 30.0 mm 2.5 mm 13.5 g Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon 1969 1997
Various commemorative designs 1973
One Pound† Queen Elizabeth II Numerous different designs 22.5 mm 3.15 mm 9.5 g Nickel-brass Milled with variable inscription and/or decoration 1983 15 October 2017
Royal Shield 2008
Two pounds No standard reverse design 28.4 mm ~3 mm 15.98 g Nickel-brass 1986 1998
* The specifications and dates of 5p, 10p, and 50p coins refer to the larger sizes issued since 1968.
† The specification refers to the round coin issued from 1983–2016. Although obsolete, this coin is still redeemable at banks and the British railway systems,[citation needed] and is still legal tender on the Isle of Man.
Commemorative issues
Circulating commemorative designs
Circulating fifty pence and two pound coins have been issued with various commemorative reverse designs, typically to mark the anniversaries of historical events or the births of notable people.
Three commemorative designs were issued of the large version of the 50p: in 1973 (the EEC), 1992–3 (EC presidency) and 1994 (D-Day anniversary). Commemorative designs of the smaller 50p coin have been issued (alongside the Britannia standard issue) in 1998 (two designs), 2000, and from 2003 to 2007 yearly (two designs in 2006). For a complete list, see Fifty pence (British decimal coin).
Prior to 1997, the two pound coin was minted in commemorative issues only – in 1986, 1989, 1994, 1995 and 1996. Commemorative £2 coins have been regularly issued since 1999, alongside the standard-issue bi-metallic coins which were introduced in 1997. One or two designs have been minted each year, with the exception of none in 2000, and four regional 2002 issues marking the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. As well as a distinct reverse design, these coins have an edge inscription relevant to the subject. The anniversary themes are continued until at least 2009, with two designs announced. For a complete list, see Two pounds (British decimal coin).
From 2018–2019 a series of 10p coins with 26 different designs was put in circulation "celebrating Great Britain with The Royal Mint’s Quintessentially British A to Z series of coins".[31]
Non-circulating denominations
1981 commemorative twenty-five pence coin, celebrating the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
The following are special-issue commemorative coins, seldom encountered in normal circulation due to their precious metal content or collectible value, but are still considered legal tender.
Twenty-five pence or crown (25p; £0.25), 1972–1981
Five pounds or crown (£5), 1990–present [1]
Twenty pounds (£20), 2013–present
Fifty pounds (£50), 2015–2016
One hundred pounds (£100), 2015–2016
Denomination Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Introduced
25 pence Queen Elizabeth II No standard reverse design 38.61 mm 2.89 mm 28.28 g Cupronickel or silver Milled, with variable inscription 1972
5 pounds 1990
20 pounds 27.0 mm Unknown 15.71 g Silver Milled 2013
50 pounds Britannia 34.0 mm 31 g 2015
100 pounds Elizabeth Tower 'Big Ben' 40.0 mm 62.86 g
Legal tender status of commemorative coins
The prolific issuance since 2013 of silver commemorative £20, £50 and £100 coins at face value has led to attempts to spend or deposit these coins, prompting the Royal Mint to clarify the legal tender status of these silver coins as well as the cupronickel £5 coin.[32][33][34] Royal Mint guidelines advise that, although these coins were approved as legal tender, they are considered limited edition collectables not intended for general circulation, and hence shops and banks are not obliged to accept them.
Maundy money
Maundy money is a ceremonial coinage traditionally given to the poor, and nowadays awarded annually to deserving senior citizens. There are Maundy coins in denominations of one, two, three and four pence. They bear dates from 1822 to the present and are minted in very small quantities. Though they are legal tender in the UK, they are rarely or never encountered in circulation. The pre-decimal Maundy pieces have the same legal tender status and value as post-decimal ones, and effectively increased in face value by 140% upon decimalisation. Their numismatic value is much greater.
Maundy coins still bear the original portrait of the Queen as used in the circulating coins of the first years of her reign.
Bullion coinage
The traditional bullion coin issued by Britain is the gold sovereign, formerly a circulating coin worth 20 shillings (or one pound) and with 0.23542 troy ounces (7.322 g) of fine gold, but now with a nominal value of one pound. The Royal Mint continues to produce sovereigns, as well as quarter sovereigns (introduced in 2009), half sovereigns, double sovereigns and quintuple sovereigns.
Between 1987 and 2012 a series of bullion coins, the Britannia, was issued, containing 1 troy ounce (31.1 g), 1⁄2 ounce, 1⁄4 ounce and 1⁄10 ounce of fine gold at a millesimal fineness of 916 (22 carat) and with face values of £100, £50, £25, and £10.
Since 2013 Britannia bullion contains 1 troy ounce of fine gold at a millesimal fineness of 999 (24 carat).
Between 1997 and 2012 silver bullion coins have also been produced under the name "Britannias". The alloy used was Britannia silver (millesimal fineness 958). The silver coins were available in 1 troy ounce (31.1 g), 1⁄2 ounce, 1⁄4 ounce and 1⁄10 ounce sizes. Since 2013 the alloy used is silver at a (millesimal fineness 999).
In 2016 the Royal Mint launched a series of 10 Queen's Beasts bullion coins,[35] one for each beast available in both gold and silver.
The Royal Mint also issues silver, gold and platinum proof sets of the circulating coins, as well as gift products such as gold coins set into jewellery.
Non-UK coinage
The British Islands (red) and overseas territories (blue) using the Pound or their local issue.
Outside the United Kingdom, the British Crown Dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey use the pound sterling as their currencies. However, they produce local issues of coinage in the same denominations and specifications, but with different designs. These circulate freely alongside UK coinage and English, Northern Irish, and Scottish banknotes within these territories, but must be converted in order to be used in the UK. The island of Alderney also produces occasional commemorative coins. (See coins of the Jersey pound, coins of the Guernsey pound, and Alderney pound for details.). The Isle of Man is a unique case among the Crown Dependencies, issuing its own currency, the Manx pound.[citation needed] While the Isle of Man recognises the Pound Sterling as a secondary currency, coins of the Manx pound are not legal tender in the UK.
The pound sterling is also the official currency of the British overseas territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands,[36] British Antarctic Territory[37] and Tristan da Cunha.[38] South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands produces occasional special collectors' sets of coins.[39] In 2008, British Antarctic Territory issued a £2 coin commemorating the centenary of Britain's claim to the region.[40]
The currencies of the British overseas territories of Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena/Ascension — namely the Gibraltar pound, Falkland Islands pound and Saint Helena pound — are pegged one-to-one to the pound sterling but are technically separate currencies. These territories issue their own coinage, again with the same denominations and specifications as the UK coinage but with local designs, as coins of the Gibraltar pound, coins of the Falkland Islands pound and coins of the Saint Helena pound.
The other British overseas territories do not use sterling as their official currency.
Pre-decimal coinage
Half crown, 1953
Two shilling coin, or florin, 1949
Shilling, 1956, showing English and Scottish reverses
For further information about the history of pre-decimal coinage, see Pound sterling and Decimal Day.
System
Before decimalisation in 1971, the pound was divided into 240 pence rather than 100, though it was rarely expressed in this way. Rather it was expressed in terms of pounds, shillings and pence, where:
£1 = 20 shillings (20s).
1 shilling = 12 pence (12d).
Thus: £1 = 240d. The penny was further subdivided at various times, though these divisions vanished as inflation made them irrelevant:
1 penny = 2 halfpennies and (earlier) 4 farthings (half farthing, a third of a farthing, and quarter farthing coins were minted in the late 19th century, and into the early 20th century in the case of the third farthing, but circulated only in certain British colonies and not in the UK).
Using the example of five shillings and sixpence, the standard ways of writing shillings and pence were:
5s 6d
5/6
5/- for 5 shillings only, with the dash to stand for zero pennies.
The sum of 5/6 would be spoken as "five shillings and sixpence" or "five and six".
The abbreviation for the old penny, d, was derived from the Roman denarius, and the abbreviation for the shilling, s, from the Roman solidus. The shilling was also denoted by the slash symbol, also called a solidus for this reason, which was originally an adaptation of the long s.[41] The symbol "£", for the pound, is derived from the first letter of the Latin word for pound, libra.[42]
A similar pre-decimal system operated in France, also based on the Roman currency, consisting of the livre (L), sol or sou (s) and denier (d). Until 1816 another similar system was used in the Netherlands, consisting of the gulden (G), stuiver (s; 1⁄20 G) and duit, (d; 1⁄8 s or 1⁄160 G).
Denominations
For an extensive list of historical pre-decimal coin denominations, see List of British banknotes and coins.
In the years just prior to decimalisation, the circulating British coins were:
Denomination Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Introduced Withdrawn
Farthing (1⁄4d) Various Monarchs Wren (Britannia on early mintages) 20.19 mm 2.83 g Bronze Smooth 1860 1961
Half penny (1⁄2d) Golden Hind (Britannia on early mintages) 25.48 mm 5.67 g 1969
Penny (1d) Britannia 31 mm 9.45 g 1971
Threepence (3d) King George VI 1937–1952
Queen Elizabeth II 1953–1971 Thrift until 1952 Crowned portcullis with chains 21.0–21.8 mm 2.5 mm 6.8 g Nickel-brass Plain (12-sided) 1937 1971
Sixpence (6d) King George VI 1946–1952
Queen Elizabeth II 1953–1971 Crowned royal cypher until 1952 Floral design – Four Home Nations 19.41 mm 2.83 g Cupronickel Milled 1947 1980
Shilling (1/-) Crowned lion on Tudor crown or Crowned lion standing on Scottish crown until 1952 Coat of Arms of England or Scotland 23.60 mm 1.7 mm 5.66 g 1990
Florin (2/-) Crowned rose flanked by a thistle and shamrock until 1952 Rose encircled by thistle, leek and shamrock 28.5 mm 1.85 mm 11.31 g 1992
Half crown (2/6) Royal Shield flanked by crowned royal cypher until 1952 Crowned Royal Shield 32.31 mm 14.14 g 1969
Crown (5/-) Various commemorative designs 38 mm 2.89 mm 28.28 g 1951 Present
The farthing (1⁄4d) had been demonetised on 1 January 1961, whilst the crown (5/-) was issued periodically as a commemorative coin but rarely found in circulation.
The crown, half crown, florin, shilling, and sixpence were cupronickel coins (in historical times silver or silver alloy); the penny, halfpenny, and farthing were bronze; and the threepence was a twelve-sided nickel-brass coin (historically it was a small silver coin).
Some of the pre-decimalisation coins with exact decimal equivalent values continued in use after 1971 alongside the new coins, albeit with new names (the shilling became equivalent to the 5p coin, with the florin equating to 10p), and the others were withdrawn almost immediately. The use of florins and shillings as legal tender in this way ended in 1991 and 1993 when the 5p and 10p coins were replaced with smaller versions. Indeed, while pre-decimalisation shillings were used as 5p coins, for a while after decimalisation many people continued to call the new 5p coin a shilling, since it remained 1⁄20 of a pound, but was now counted as 5p (five new pence) instead of 12d (twelve old pennies). The pre-decimalisation sixpence, also known as a sixpenny bit or sixpenny piece, was equivalent to 2+1⁄2p, but was demonetised in 1980.
Pre-decimal coins of the pound sterling
Five pounds Double sovereign Sovereign Crown Half crown Florin Shilling Sixpence Groat Threepence Penny Halfpenny Farthing Half farthing Third farthing Quarter farthing
Five pounds 1 2+1⁄2 5 20 40 50 100 200 300 400 1200 2400 4800 9600 14400 19200
Double sovereign 2⁄5 1 2 8 16 20 40 80 120 160 480 960 1920 3840 5760 7680
Sovereign 1⁄5 1⁄2 1 4 8 10 20 40 60 80 240 480 960 1920 2880 3840
Crown 1⁄20 1⁄8 1⁄4 1 2 2+1⁄2 5 10 15 20 60 120 240 480 720 960
Half crown 1⁄40 1⁄16 1⁄8 1⁄2 1 1+1⁄4 2+1⁄2 5 7+1⁄2 10 30 60 120 240 360 480
Florin 1⁄50 1⁄20 1⁄10 2⁄5 4⁄5 1 2 4 6 8 24 48 96 192 288 384
Shilling 1⁄100 1⁄40 1⁄20 1⁄5 2⁄5 1⁄2 1 2 3 4 12 24 48 96 144 192
Sixpence 1⁄200 1⁄80 1⁄40 1⁄10 1⁄5 1⁄4 1⁄2 1 1+1⁄2 2 6 12 24 48 72 96
Groat 1⁄300 1⁄120 1⁄60 1⁄15 2⁄15 1⁄6 1⁄3 2⁄3 1 1+1⁄3 4 8 16 32 48 64
Threepence 1⁄400 1⁄160 1⁄80 1⁄20 1⁄10 1⁄8 1⁄4 1⁄2 3⁄4 1 3 6 12 24 36 48
Penny 1⁄1200 1⁄480 1⁄240 1⁄60 1⁄30 1⁄24 1⁄12 1⁄6 1⁄4 1⁄3 1 2 4 8 12 16
Halfpenny 1⁄2400 1⁄960 1⁄480 1⁄120 1⁄60 1⁄48 1⁄24 1⁄12 1⁄8 1⁄6 1⁄2 1 2 4 6 8
Farthing 1⁄4800 1⁄1920 1⁄960 1⁄240 1⁄120 1⁄96 1⁄48 1⁄24 1⁄16 1⁄12 1⁄4 1⁄2 1 2 3 4
Half farthing 1⁄9600 1⁄3840 1⁄1920 1⁄480 1⁄240 1⁄192 1⁄96 1⁄48 1⁄36 1⁄24 1⁄8 1⁄4 1⁄2 1 1+1⁄2 2
Third farthing 1⁄14400 1⁄5760 1⁄2880 1⁄720 1⁄360 1⁄288 1⁄144 1⁄72 1⁄48 1⁄36 1⁄12 1⁄6 1⁄3 2⁄3 1 1+1⁄3
Quarter farthing 1⁄19200 1⁄7680 1⁄3840 1⁄960 1⁄480 1⁄384 1⁄192 1⁄96 1⁄72 1⁄48 1⁄16 1⁄8 1⁄4 1⁄2 3⁄4 1
Visualisation of some British currency terms before decimalisation
Slang and everyday usage
Some pre-decimalisation coins or denominations became commonly known by colloquial and slang terms, perhaps the most well known being bob for a shilling, and quid for a pound. A farthing was a mag, a silver threepence was a joey and the later nickel-brass threepence was called a threepenny bit (/ˈθrʌpni/ or /ˈθrɛpni/ bit, i.e. thrup'ny or threp'ny bit – the apostrophe was pronounced on a scale from full "e" down to complete omission); a sixpence was a tanner, the two-shilling coin or florin was a two-bob bit. Bob is still used in phrases such as "earn/worth a bob or two",[43][better source needed] and "bob‐a‐job week". The two shillings and sixpence coin or half-crown was a half-dollar, also sometimes referred to as two and a kick. A value of two pence was universally pronounced /ˈtʌpəns/ tuppence, a usage which is still heard today, especially among older people. The unaccented suffix "-pence", pronounced /pəns/, was similarly appended to the other numbers up to twelve; thus "fourpence", "sixpence-three-farthings", "twelvepence-ha'penny", but "eighteen pence" would usually be said "one-and-six".
Quid remains as popular slang for one or more pounds to this day in Britain in the form "a quid" and then "two quid", and so on. Similarly, in some parts of the country, bob continued to represent one-twentieth of a pound, that is five new pence, and two bob is 10p.[44]
The introduction of decimal currency caused a new casual usage to emerge, where any value in pence is spoken using the suffix pee: e.g. "twenty-three pee" or, in the early years, "two-and-a-half pee" rather than the previous "tuppence-ha'penny". Amounts over a pound are normally spoken thus: "five pounds forty". A value with less than ten pence over the pound is sometimes spoken like this: "one pound and a penny", "three pounds and fourpence". The slang term "bit" has almost disappeared from use completely, although in Scotland a fifty pence is sometimes referred to as a "ten bob bit". Decimal denomination coins are generally described using the terms piece or coin, for example, "a fifty-pee piece", a "ten-pence coin".
Monarch's profile
All coins since the 17th century have featured a profile of the current monarch's head. The direction in which they face changes with each successive monarch, a pattern that began with the Stuarts, as shown in the table below:
Facing left Facing right
Cromwell 1653–1658[45] Broad 1656 Oliver Cromwell coin.jpg Charles II 1660–1685 Guinea 641642.jpg
James II 1685–1688 James2coin.jpg William and Mary 1689–1694
William III 1694–1702 William and Mary Guinea 612668.jpg
Anne 1702–1714 Half-crown of Anne.jpg George I 1714–1727 George I Quarter Guinea 641648.jpg
George II 1727–1760 George II Guinea 722655.jpg George III 1760–1820 Sovereign George III 1817 641656.jpg
George IV 1820–1830 Sovereign George IV 1828 651295.jpg William IV 1830–1837 William4coin.jpg
Victoria 1837–1901 Sovereign Victoria 1842 662015.jpg Edward VII 1901–1910 Matte proof 5 pound Edwards VII.jpg
George V 1910–1936 1 penny 1927 george 5.jpg
Edward VIII 1936 EdwardVIIIcoin.jpg (uncirculated issues)
George VI 1936–1952 1937 George VI penny.jpg Elizabeth II 1952–2022 1953 half crown obverse.jpg
Charles III 2022–present
For the Tudors and pre-Restoration Stuarts, both left- and right-facing portrait images were minted within the reign of a single monarch (left-facing images were more common). In the Middle Ages, portrait images tended to be full face.
There was a small quirk in this alternating pattern when Edward VIII became king in January 1936 and was portrayed facing left, the same as his predecessor George V. This was because Edward thought his left side to be better than his right.[46] However, Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936 and his coins were never put into general circulation. When George VI came to the throne, he had his coins struck with him facing the left, as if Edward VIII's coins had faced right (as they should have done according to tradition). Thus, in a timeline of circulating British coins, George V and VI's coins both feature left-facing portraits, although they follow directly chronologically.[47]
Regal titles
A 1937 George VI penny
From a very early date, British coins have been inscribed with the name of the ruler of the kingdom in which they were produced, and a longer or shorter title, always in Latin; among the earliest distinctive English coins are the silver pennies of Offa of Mercia, which were inscribed with the legend OFFA REX "King Offa". As the legends became longer, words in the inscriptions were often abbreviated so that they could fit on the coin; identical legends have often been abbreviated in different ways depending upon the size and decoration of the coin. Inscriptions which go around the edge of the coin generally have started at the center of the top edge and proceeded in a clockwise direction. A very lengthy legend would be continued on the reverse side of the coin. All monarchs used Latinised names, save Edward III, both Elizabeths, and Charles III (which would have been EDWARDUS, ELIZABETHA, and CAROLUS respectively).
Examples of coinage legends
Latin text English text Notes
EDWARD DEI GRA REX ANGL Z FRANC D HYB(E) Edward III, by the grace of God King of England and France, Lord of Ireland
EDWARD DEI GRA REX ANGL DNS HYB Z ACQ Edward, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland and Aquitaine Used after the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) when Edward III temporarily gave up his claim to the French throne.
EDWARD DEI G REX ANG Z FRA DNS HYB Z ACT Edward, by the grace of God King of England and France, Lord of Ireland and Aquitaine. Used after Anglo-French relations broke down and Edward III resumed his claim.
HENRICUS VII DEI GRATIA REX ANGLIÆ & FRANCIÆ Henry VII by the Grace of God, King of England and France France had been claimed by the English continuously since 1369.
HENRICUS VIII DEI GRATIA REX ANGLIÆ & FRANCIÆ Henry VIII by the Grace of God, King of England and France The Arabic numeral 8 was also used instead of the Roman VIII.
HENRICUS VIII DEI GRATIA ANGLIÆ FRANCIÆ & HIBERNIÆ REX Henry VIII by the Grace of God, Of England, France and Ireland, King Used after Henry VIII made Ireland a kingdom in 1541. The Arabic numeral 8 was also used instead of the Roman VIII.
PHILIPPUS ET MARIA DEI GRATIA REX & REGINA Philip and Mary by the Grace of God, King and Queen The names of the realms were omitted from the coin for reasons of space.
ELIZABETH DEI GRATIA ANGLIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REGINA Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, of England, France, and Ireland, Queen
IACOBUS DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King James, King of Scotland, by succeeding to the English throne united the two kingdoms in his person; he dubbed the combination of the two kingdoms "Great Britain" (the name of the whole island) though they remained legislatively distinct for more than a century afterwards.
CAROLUS DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX Charles, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King
OLIVARIUS DEI GRATIA REIPUBLICÆ ANGLIÆ SCOTIÆ HIBERNIÆ & CETERORUM PROTECTOR Oliver, by the Grace of God, of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland etc., Protector Cromwell ruled as a monarch but did not claim the title of king.
CAROLUS II DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX Charles II, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King
IACOBUS II DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX James II, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King
GULIELMUS ET MARIA DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX ET REGINA William and Mary by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King and Queen The spouses William and Mary ruled jointly.
GULIELMUS III DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX William III by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King William continued to rule alone after his wife's death.
ANNA DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REGINA Anne by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Queen
GEORGIUS DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX FIDEI DEFENSOR BRUNSVICENSIS ET LUNEBURGENSIS DUX SACRI ROMANI IMPERII ARCHITHESAURARIUS ET ELECTOR George by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, of Brunswick and Lüneburg Duke, of the Holy Roman Empire Archtreasurer and Elector George I added the titles he already possessed as Elector of Hanover. He also added the title "Defender of the Faith", which had been borne by the English kings since Henry VIII, but which had previously only rarely appeared on coins.
GEORGIUS II DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX FIDEI DEFENSOR BRUNSVICENSIS ET LUNEBURGENSIS DUX SACRI ROMANI IMPERII ARCHITHESAURARIUS ET ELECTOR George II by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, of Brunswick and Lüneburg Duke, of the Holy Roman Empire Archtreasurer and Elector
GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX FIDEI DEFENSOR BRUNSVICENSIS ET LUNEBURGENSIS DUX SACRI ROMANI IMPERII ARCHITHESAURARIUS ET ELECTOR George III by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, of Brunswick and Lüneburg Duke, of the Holy Roman Empire Archtreasurer and Elector
GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR George III, by the Grace of God, of the Britains King, Defender of the Faith The Acts of Union united Great Britain and Ireland into a single kingdom, represented on the coinage by the Latin genitive plural Britanniarum ("of the Britains", often abbreviated BRITT). At the same time, the claim to the throne of France was dropped and other titles were omitted from the coinage.
GEORGIUS IIII (IV) DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR George IV, by the Grace of God, of the Britains King, Defender of the Faith The Roman numeral "4" is represented by both IIII and IV in different issues.
GULIELMUS IIII DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR William IV, by the Grace of God, of the Britains King, Defender of the Faith
VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the Britains Queen, Defender of the Faith
VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR INDIÆ IMPERATRIX Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the Britains Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India Queen Victoria was granted the title "Empress of India" in 1876.
EDWARDUS VII DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR INDIÆ IMPERATOR Edward VII, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India Edward VII's coins added OMNIUM ("all") after "Britains" to imply a rule over the British overseas colonies as well as the United Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
GEORGIUS V DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR INDIÆ IMPERATOR George V, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India
GEORGIUS VI DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR INDIÆ IMPERATOR George VI, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India
GEORGIUS VI DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR George VI, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains King, Defender of the Faith The title "Emperor of India" was relinquished in 1948, after the independence of India and Pakistan.
ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR[48] Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains Queen, Defender of the Faith
ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR[49] Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith The "of all the Britains" was dropped from the coinage in 1954, and current coins do not name any realm.
CHARLES III DEI GRATIA REX FIDEI DEFENSOR [50] Charles III, by the Grace of God, King, Defender of the Faith
Coins in the colonies
Some coins made for circulation in the British colonies are considered part of British coinage because they have no indication of what country it was minted for and they were made in the same style as contemporary coins circulating in the United Kingdom.
A three halfpence (1+1⁄2 pence,
1
/
160
of a pound) coin was circulated mainly in the West Indies and Ceylon in the starting in 1834. Jamaicans referred to the coin as a "quatty".[51]
The half farthing (
1
/
8
of a penny,
1
/
1920
of a pound) coin was initially minted in 1828 for use in Ceylon, but was declared legal tender in the United Kingdom in 1842.[52]
The third farthing (
1
/
12
of a penny,
1
/
2880
of a pound) coin was minted for use in Malta, starting in 1827.[52]
The quarter farthing (
1
/
16
of a penny,
1
/
3840
of a pound) coin was minted for use in Ceylon starting in 1839.[52]
Mottos
In addition to the title, a Latin or French motto might be included, generally on the reverse side of the coin. These varied between denominations and issues; some were personal to the monarch, others were more general. Some of the mottos were:
POSUI DEUM ADIUTOREM MEUM "I have made God my helper". Coins of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I. Possibly refers to Psalm 52:7, Ecce homo qui non-posuit Deum adjutorem suum "Behold the man who did not make God his helper".
RUTILANS ROSA SINE SPINA "A dazzling rose without a thorn". Coins of Henry VIII and Edward VI. Initially on the unsuccessful and very rare Crown of the Rose of Henry VIII and continued on subsequent small gold coinage into the reign of Edward VI.
POSUIMUS DEUM ADIUTOREM NOSTRUM "We have made God our helper". Coins of Philip and Mary. The same as above, but with a plural subject.
FACIAM EOS IN GENTEM UNAM "I shall make them into one nation". Coins of James I, signifying his desire to unite the English and Scottish nations. Refers to Ezekiel 37:22 in the Vulgate Bible.
CHRISTO AUSPICE REGNO "I reign with Christ as my protector". Coins of Charles I.
EXURGAT DEUS DISSIPENTUR INIMICI "May God rise up, may [his] enemies be scattered". Coins of Charles I, during the Civil War. Refers to Psalm 67:1 in the Vulgate Bible (Psalm 68 in English Bible numbering).
PAX QUÆRITUR BELLO "Peace is sought by war". Coins of the Protectorate; personal motto of Oliver Cromwell.
BRITANNIA "Britain". Reign of Charles II to George III. Found on pennies and smaller denominations.
HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE. "Shamed be he who thinks ill of it." Sovereigns of George III. Motto of the Order of the Garter.
DECUS ET TUTAMEN. "A decoration and protection." Some pound coins of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and some crown coins including some of Victoria and George V. Refers to the inscribed edge as a protection against the clipping of precious metal, as well as being a complimentary reference to the monarch and the monarchy.
Minting errors reaching circulation
Coins with errors in the minting process that reach circulation are often seen as valuable items by coin collectors.
In 1983, the Royal Mint mistakenly produced some two pence pieces with the old wording "New Pence" on the reverse (tails) side, when the design had been changed from 1982 to "Two Pence".
In 2016, a batch of double-dated £1 coins was released into circulation. These coins had the main date on the obverse stating '2017', but the micro-engraving having '2016' on it. it is not known how many exist and are in circulation, but the amount is fewer than half a million.
In June 2009, the Royal Mint estimated that between 50,000 and 200,000 dateless 20 pence coins had entered circulation, the first undated British coin to enter circulation in more than 300 years. It resulted from the accidental combination of old and new face tooling in a production batch, creating what is known as a mule, following the 2008 redesign which moved the date from the reverse (tails) to the obverse (heads) side.[53]
See also
icon Money portal
Numismatics portal
flag United Kingdom portal
Banknotes of the pound sterling
List of British bank notes and coins
Mark (money)
Non-decimal currency
One hundred pounds (British coin)
Roman currency
Twenty pounds (British coin)
References
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"National Museums of Scotland – Balance and scales (detail)". Archived from the original on 9 April 2009.
The 1696 Recoinage (1696–1699) Archived 14 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Richard Kleer, University of Regina, The Literary Encyclopedia
Newton and the Counterfeiter, Thomas Levenson, Faber & Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-22992-5
The Scottish Mint after the recoinage, 1709–1836 Archived 22 August 2009 at Wikiwix, Athol L Murray, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1999
Sir Isaac Newton and the Scottish recoinage, 1707–10 Archived 21 August 2009 at Wikiwix, Athol L Murray, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1997
On the Value of Gold and Silver in European Currencies and the Consequences on the World-wide Gold- and Silver-Trade Archived 28 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Sir Isaac Newton, 21 September 1717.
By The King, A Proclamation Declaring the Rates at which Gold shall be current in Payments reproduced in the numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, Vol V., April 1842 – January 1843
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New Coin Designs FAQ Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Mint
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"Your Change is Changing". Bulletin. Royal Mint (107): 6. 2008. [Stephen Raw said] "We couldn't have had post-modern designs like this 50 years ago – the public simply wouldn't have accepted them
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External links
Clayton, Tony: Coins of England and Great Britain
Chard, Juliana: Common Names of British Coin Denominations
UK Coin Designs and Specifications from the Royal Mint's website
Coin Designs — Royal Mint competition designs
United Kingdom: Coins Issued and Used – list of all UK coins, with photos and descriptions
Old Money Converter – converts £sd to decimal currency
Old Money Converter 2 – converts decimal currency to £sd
vte
Sterling coinage
Decimal
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George III
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For other uses, see George III (disambiguation).
George III
Full-length portrait in oils of a clean-shaven young George in eighteenth century dress: gold jacket and breeches, ermine cloak, powdered wig, white stockings, and buckled shoes.
Coronation portrait by Allan Ramsay, 1762
King of Great Britain and Ireland,[a]
Elector/King of Hanover[b] (more...)
Reign 25 October 1760 – 29 January 1820
Coronation 22 September 1761
Predecessor George II
Successor George IV
Prince Regent George (1811–1820)
Born Prince George
4 June 1738 [NS][c]
Norfolk House, St James's Square, London, England
Died 29 January 1820 (aged 81)
Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England
Burial 16 February 1820
Royal Vault, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Spouse Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
(m. 1761; died 1818)
Issue
George IV, King of the United Kingdom
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
William IV, King of the United Kingdom
Charlotte, Queen of Württemberg
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
Princess Augusta Sophia
Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg
Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh
Princess Sophia
Prince Octavius
Prince Alfred
Princess Amelia
Names
George William Frederick
House Hanover
Father Frederick, Prince of Wales
Mother Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Religion Anglicanism
Signature Handwritten "George" with a huge leading "G" and a large capital "R" at the end for "Rex"
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George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738[c] – 29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death in 1820. He was the longest-lived and longest-reigning king in British history. He was concurrently Duke and Prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg ("Hanover") in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was a monarch of the House of Hanover but, unlike his two predecessors, he was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language[1] and never visited Hanover.[2]
George's life and reign were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of Britain's American colonies were soon lost in the American War of Independence. Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In 1807, the transatlantic slave trade was banned from the British Empire.
In the later part of his life, George had recurrent, and eventually permanent, mental illness. Although it has since been suggested that he had bipolar disorder or the blood disease porphyria, the cause of his illness remains unknown. George suffered a final relapse in 1810, and his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, became Prince Regent the following year. When George III died in 1820, the Regent succeeded him as King George IV. Historical analysis of George III's life has gone through a "kaleidoscope of changing views" that have depended heavily on the prejudices of his biographers and the sources available to them.[3]
Early life
Conversation piece in oils: Ayscough dressed in black with a clerical collar stands beside a settee on which the two boys sit, one wearing a grey suit the other a blue one. He holds a sheet of paper; the boys hold a book.
George (right) with his brother Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, and their tutor, Francis Ayscough, later Dean of Bristol, c. 1749
George was born on 4 June 1738 at Norfolk House in St James's Square, London. He was a grandson of King George II, and the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. As he was born two months prematurely and thought unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by Thomas Secker, who was both Rector of St James's, Piccadilly, and Bishop of Oxford.[4][5] One month later he was publicly baptised at Norfolk House, again by Secker. His godparents were King Frederick I of Sweden (for whom Lord Baltimore stood proxy), his uncle Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (for whom Lord Carnarvon stood proxy), and his great-aunt Sophia Dorothea, Queen in Prussia (for whom Lady Charlotte Edwin stood proxy).[6]
George grew into a healthy, reserved and shy child. The family moved to Leicester Square, where George and his younger brother Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, were educated together by private tutors. Family letters show that he could read and write in both English and German, as well as comment on political events of the time, by the age of eight.[7] He was the first British monarch to study science systematically.[8]
Apart from chemistry and physics, his lessons included astronomy, mathematics, French, Latin, history, music, geography, commerce, agriculture and constitutional law, along with sporting and social accomplishments such as dancing, fencing and riding. His religious education was wholly Anglican.[8] At the age of 10, George took part in a family production of Joseph Addison's play Cato and said in the new prologue: "What, tho' a boy! It may with truth be said, A boy in England born, in England bred."[9] Historian Romney Sedgwick argued that these lines appear "to be the source of the only historical phrase with which he is associated".[10]
King George II disliked the Prince of Wales and took little interest in his grandchildren. However, in 1751, the Prince died unexpectedly from a lung injury at the age of 44, and his son George became heir apparent to the throne and inherited his father's title of Duke of Edinburgh. Now more interested in his grandson, three weeks later the King created George Prince of Wales.[11][12]
Head-and-shoulders portrait of a young clean-shaven George wearing a finely-embroidered jacket, the blue sash of the Order of the Garter, and a powdered wig.
A pastel portrait of George as Prince of Wales by Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1754
In the spring of 1756, as George approached his eighteenth birthday, the King offered him a grand establishment at St James's Palace, but George refused the offer, guided by his mother and her confidant, Lord Bute, who later served as prime minister.[13] George's mother, now the Dowager Princess of Wales, preferred to keep George at home where she could imbue him with her strict moral values.[14][15]
Marriage
In 1759, George was smitten with Lady Sarah Lennox, sister of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, but Lord Bute advised against the match and George abandoned his thoughts of marriage. "I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation," he wrote, "and consequently must often act contrary to my passions."[16] Nevertheless George and his mother, Princess Augusta, resisted attempts by the King to marry George to Princess Sophie Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.[17] Sophie married Frederick, Margrave of Bayreuth, instead.[18]
The following year, at the age of 22, George succeeded to the throne when his grandfather, George II, died suddenly on 25 October 1760, two weeks before his 77th birthday. The search for a suitable wife intensified: after giving consideration to a number of protestant German princesses, George's mother sent Colonel David Graeme with, on her son's behalf, an offer of marriage to Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Charlotte accepted. While a royal household and staff were assembled for Charlotte in London, Lord Harcourt, the royal Master of the Horse, escorted her from Strelitz to London. The princess arrived in the afternoon of 8 September 1761 and the marriage ceremony was conducted that same evening in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace.[19][d] A fortnight later on 22 September, both were crowned at Westminster Abbey. George never took a mistress (in contrast with his grandfather and his sons), and the couple enjoyed a happy marriage until his mental illness struck.[1][9]
They had 15 children—nine sons and six daughters. In 1762, George purchased Buckingham House (on the site now occupied by Buckingham Palace) for use as a family retreat.[21] His other residences were Kew Palace and Windsor Castle. St James's Palace was retained for official use. He did not travel extensively and spent his entire life in southern England. In the 1790s, the King and his family took holidays at Weymouth, Dorset,[22] which he thus popularised as one of the first seaside resorts in England.[23]
Early reign
Further information: Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
George, in his accession speech to Parliament, proclaimed: "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain."[24] He inserted this phrase into the speech, written by Lord Hardwicke, to demonstrate his desire to distance himself from his German forebears, who were perceived as caring more for Hanover than for Britain.[25] During George III's lengthy reign, Britain was a constitutional monarchy, ruled by his ministerial government and prominent men in Parliament.[26] Although his accession was at first welcomed by politicians of all parties,[e] the first years of his reign were marked by political instability, largely as a result of disagreements over the Seven Years' War.[28] George came to be perceived as favouring Tory ministers, which led to his denunciation by the Whigs as an autocrat.[1]
On his accession, the Crown lands produced relatively little income; most revenue was generated through taxes and excise duties. George surrendered the Crown Estate to Parliamentary control in return for a civil list annuity for the support of his household and the expenses of civil government.[29] Claims that he used the income to reward supporters with bribes and gifts[30] are disputed by historians who say such claims "rest on nothing but falsehoods put out by disgruntled opposition".[31] Debts amounting to over £3 million over the course of George's reign were paid by Parliament, and the civil list annuity was increased from time to time.[32] He aided the Royal Academy of Arts with large grants from his private funds,[33] and may have donated more than half of his personal income to charity.[34] Of his art collection, the two most notable purchases are Johannes Vermeer's Lady at the Virginals and a set of Canalettos, but it is as a collector of books that he is best remembered.[35] The King's Library was open and available to scholars and was the foundation of a new national library.[36]
Quarter-length portrait in oils of a clean-shaven young George in profile wearing a red suit, the Garter star, a blue sash, and a powdered wig. He has a receding chin and his forehead slopes away from the bridge of his nose making his head look round in shape.
George III by Allan Ramsay, 1762
In May 1762, the incumbent Whig government of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, was replaced with one led by the Scottish Tory Lord Bute. Bute's opponents worked against him by spreading the calumny that he was having an affair with the King's mother, and by exploiting anti-Scottish sentiment amongst the English.[37] John Wilkes, a member of parliament, published The North Briton, which was both inflammatory and defamatory in its condemnation of Bute and the government. Wilkes was eventually arrested for seditious libel but he fled to France to escape punishment; he was expelled from the House of Commons, and found guilty in absentia of blasphemy and libel.[38] In 1763, after concluding the Peace of Paris which ended the war, Lord Bute resigned, allowing the Whigs under George Grenville to return to power. Britain received enormous concessions, including West Florida. Britain restored to France lucrative slave-sugar islands in the West Indies, including Guadeloupe and Martinique. France ceded Canada to Britain, in addition to all land between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River, except New Orleans, which was ceded to Spain.[39]
Later that year, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 placed a limit upon the westward expansion of the American colonies and created an Indian reserve. The Proclamation aimed to divert colonial expansion to the north (to Nova Scotia) and to the south (Florida), and protect the British fur trade with the Indians.[40] The Proclamation Line did not bother the majority of settled farmers, but it was unpopular with a vocal minority. This discontent ultimately contributed to conflict between the colonists and the British government.[41] With the American colonists generally unburdened by British taxes, the government thought it appropriate for them to pay towards the defence of the colonies against native uprisings and the possibility of French incursions.[f]
The central issue for the colonists was not the amount of taxes but whether Parliament could levy a tax without American approval, for there were no American seats in Parliament.[44] The Americans protested that like all Englishmen they had rights to "no taxation without representation". In 1765, Grenville introduced the Stamp Act, which levied a stamp duty on every document in the British colonies in North America. Since newspapers were printed on stamped paper, those most affected by the introduction of the duty were the most effective at producing propaganda opposing the tax.[45]
Meanwhile, George had become exasperated at Grenville's attempts to reduce the king's prerogatives, and tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade William Pitt the Elder to accept the office of prime minister.[46] After a brief illness, which may have presaged his illnesses to come, George settled on Lord Rockingham to form a ministry, and dismissed Grenville.[47]
Bust by John van Nost the younger, 1767
Lord Rockingham, with the support of Pitt and the King, repealed Grenville's unpopular Stamp Act. Rockingham's government was weak, and he was replaced as prime minister in 1766 by Pitt, whom George created Earl of Chatham. The actions of Lord Chatham and George III in repealing the Act were so popular in America that statues of them both were erected in New York City.[48] Lord Chatham fell ill in 1767, and Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, took over the government. Grafton did not formally become prime minister until 1768. That year, John Wilkes returned to England, stood as a candidate in the general election, and came top of the poll in the Middlesex constituency. Wilkes was again expelled from Parliament. He was re-elected and expelled twice more, before the House of Commons resolved that his candidature was invalid and declared the runner-up as the victor.[49] Grafton's government disintegrated in 1770, allowing the Tories led by Lord North to return to power.[50]
Three-quarter length seated portrait of a clean-shaven George with a fleshy face and white eyebrows wearing a powdered wig.
Portrait by Johan Zoffany, 1771
George was deeply devout and spent hours in prayer,[51] but his piety was not shared by his brothers. George was appalled by what he saw as their loose morals. In 1770, his brother Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, was exposed as an adulterer. The following year, Cumberland married a young widow, Anne Horton. The King considered her inappropriate as a royal bride: she was from a lower social class and German law barred any children of the couple from the Hanoverian succession.[52]
George insisted on a new law that essentially forbade members of the royal family from legally marrying without the consent of the sovereign. The subsequent bill was unpopular in Parliament, including among George's own ministers, but passed as the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Shortly afterwards, another of George's brothers, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, revealed he had been secretly married to Maria, Countess Waldegrave, the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole. The news confirmed George's opinion that he had been right to introduce the law: Maria was related to his political opponents. Neither lady was ever received at court.[52]
Lord North's government was chiefly concerned with discontent in America. To assuage American opinion most of the custom duties were withdrawn, except for the tea duty, which in George's words was "one tax to keep up the right [to levy taxes]".[53] In 1773, the tea ships moored in Boston Harbor were boarded by colonists and the tea was thrown overboard, an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. In Britain, opinion hardened against the colonists, with Chatham now agreeing with North that the destruction of the tea was "certainly criminal".[54]
With the clear support of Parliament, Lord North introduced measures, which were called the Intolerable Acts by the colonists: the Port of Boston was shut down and the charter of Massachusetts was altered so that the upper house of the legislature was appointed by the Crown instead of elected by the lower house.[55] Up to this point, in the words of Professor Peter Thomas, George's "hopes were centred on a political solution, and he always bowed to his cabinet's opinions even when sceptical of their success. The detailed evidence of the years from 1763 to 1775 tends to exonerate George III from any real responsibility for the American Revolution."[56] Though both the Americans and older British historians characterised George as a tyrant, in these years he acted as a constitutional monarch supporting the initiatives of his ministers.[57]
American War of Independence
Main articles: American Revolution and American Revolutionary War
Pulling Down the Statue of George III at Bowling Green, 9 July 1776, William Walcutt (1854)
The American War of Independence was the culmination of the civil and political American Revolution resulting from the American Enlightenment. In the 1760s, a series of acts by Parliament was met with resistance in thirteen of Britain's American colonies. In particular they rejected new taxes levied by Parliament, a body in which they had no direct representation. Locally governed by colonial legislatures, the colonies had previously enjoyed a high level of autonomy in their internal affairs and viewed Parliament's acts as a denial of their rights as Englishmen.[58] Armed conflict between British regulars and colonial militiamen broke out at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. After petitions to the Crown for intervention with Parliament were ignored, the rebel leaders were declared traitors by the Crown and a year of fighting ensued. Thomas Paine's published work Common Sense abrasively referred to George III as "the Royal Brute of Great Britain".[59]
The colonies declared their independence in July 1776, listing twenty-seven grievances against the British king and legislature while asking the support of the populace. Among George's other offenses, the declaration charged, "He has abdicated Government here ... He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." The gilded equestrian statue of the King in New York was pulled down.[60] The British captured the city in 1776 but lost Boston, and the grand strategic plan of invading from Canada and cutting off New England failed with the surrender of British Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne following the battles of Saratoga.[61]
Although Prime Minister Lord North was not an ideal war leader, George III managed to give Parliament a sense of purpose to fight, and Lord North was able to keep his cabinet together. Lord North's cabinet ministers, the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Lord George Germain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, however, proved to lack leadership skills suited for their positions, which in turn, aided the American war effort.[62]
George III is often accused of obstinately trying to keep Great Britain at war with the revolutionaries in America, despite the opinions of his own ministers.[63] In the words of the British historian George Otto Trevelyan, the King was determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal."[64] The King wanted to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse".[65] Later historians defend George by saying in the context of the times no king would willingly surrender such a large territory,[9][66] and his conduct was far less ruthless than contemporary monarchs in Europe.[67] After Saratoga, both Parliament and the British people were in favour of the war; recruitment ran at high levels and although political opponents were vocal, they remained a small minority.[9][68]
Portrait by Johann Heinrich von Hurter, 1781 (Royal Collection)
With the setbacks in America, Lord North asked to transfer power to Lord Chatham, whom he thought more capable, but George refused to do so; he suggested instead that Chatham serve as a subordinate minister in North's administration, but Chatham refused; he died later in the same year.[69] Lord North was allied to the "King's Friends" in Parliament and believed George III had the right to exercise powers.[70] In early 1778, France (Britain's chief rival) signed a treaty of alliance with the United States and the confrontation soon escalated from "civil war" to something that has been characterized as "world war".[71] The French fleet was able to outrun the British naval blockade of the Mediterranean and sailed to North America.[71] The conflict now affected North America, Europe, and India.[71] The United States and France were joined by Spain in 1779 and the Dutch Republic, while Britain had no major allies of its own, except for the Loyalists and German auxiliaries. Lord Gower and Lord Weymouth both resigned from the government. Lord North again requested that he also be allowed to resign, but he stayed in office at George III's insistence.[72]
During the summer of 1779, a combined French-Spanish naval fleet threatened to invade England and transport 31,000 French troops across the English Channel. George III said that Britain was confronted by the "most serious crisis the nation ever knew". In August, sixty-six warships entered the English channel, but due to sickness, hunger, and adverse winds, the French-Spanish armada lost its nerve, and withdrew, ending the invasion threat.[73]
In late 1779, George III advocated sending more British warships and troops, guarding the English Channel, across the Atlantic, to the West Indies. He boldly said: "We must risk something, otherwise we will only vegetate in this war. I own I wish either with spirit to get through it, or with a crash be ruined." In January 1780, 7,000 British troops, under General Sir John Vaughan, were transported to the West Indies.[74] Nonetheless, opposition to the costly war was increasing, and in June 1780 contributed to disturbances in London known as the Gordon riots.[75]
As late as the siege of Charleston in 1780, Loyalists could still believe in their eventual victory, as British troops inflicted defeats on the Continental forces at the Battle of Camden and the Battle of Guilford Court House.[76] In late 1781, the news of Lord Cornwallis's surrender at the siege of Yorktown reached London; Lord North's parliamentary support ebbed away and he resigned the following year. The King drafted an abdication notice, which was never delivered.[66][77] He finally accepted the defeat in North America and authorized peace negotiations. The Treaties of Paris, by which Britain recognized the independence of the American states and returned Florida to Spain, were signed in 1782 and 1783.[78] In early 1783, George III privately conceded "America is lost!" He reflected that the Northern colonies had developed into Britain's "successful rivals" in commercial trade and fishing.[79] Up to 70,000 Loyalists fled to Canada, the Caribbean, or England after their homes and businesses were looted and destroyed by hostile Americans.[80]
When John Adams was appointed American minister to London in 1785, George had become resigned to the new relationship between his country and the former colonies. He told Adams, "I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power."[81]
William Pitt
Centre: George III, drawn as a paunchy man with pockets bulging with gold coins, receives a wheel-barrow filled with money-bags from William Pitt, whose pockets also overflow with coin. To the left, a quadriplegic veteran begs on the street. To the right, George, Prince of Wales, is depicted dressed in rags.
In A new way to pay the National Debt (1786), James Gillray caricatured King George III and Queen Charlotte awash with treasury funds to cover royal debts, with Pitt handing him another money bag.
With the collapse of Lord North's ministry in 1782, the Whig Lord Rockingham became prime minister for the second time, but died within months. The King then appointed Lord Shelburne to replace him. Charles James Fox, however, refused to serve under Shelburne, and demanded the appointment of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. In 1783, the House of Commons forced Shelburne from office and his government was replaced by the Fox–North Coalition. Portland became prime minister, with Fox and Lord North, as foreign secretary and home secretary respectively.[9]
The King disliked Fox intensely, for his politics as well as his character: he thought Fox unprincipled and a bad influence on the Prince of Wales.[82] George III was distressed at having to appoint ministers not of his liking, but the Portland ministry quickly built up a majority in the House of Commons, and could not be displaced easily. He was further dismayed when the government introduced the India Bill, which proposed to reform the government of India by transferring political power from the East India Company to Parliamentary commissioners.[83] Although the King actually favoured greater control over the company, the proposed commissioners were all political allies of Fox.[84] Immediately after the House of Commons passed it, George authorised Lord Temple to inform the House of Lords that he would regard any peer who voted for the bill as his enemy. The bill was rejected by the Lords; three days later, the Portland ministry was dismissed, and William Pitt the Younger was appointed prime minister, with Temple as his secretary of state. On 17 December 1783, Parliament voted in favour of a motion condemning the influence of the monarch in parliamentary voting as a "high crime" and Temple was forced to resign. Temple's departure destabilised the government, and three months later the government lost its majority and Parliament was dissolved; the subsequent election gave Pitt a firm mandate.[9]
Signs of illness
Imaginary garden scene with birds of paradise, vines laden with grapes, and architectural columns. The two young princesses and their baby sister wear fine dresses and play with three spaniels and a tambourine.
The Three Youngest Daughters of King George III by John Singleton Copley, c. 1785, depicting: Princesses Mary (left with tambourine), Sophia (upper right), and Amelia (baby).
Gold coin bearing the profile of a round-headed George wearing a classical Roman-style haircut and a laurel wreath.
Gold guinea of George III, 1789
Pitt's appointment was a great victory for George. It proved that the king could appoint prime ministers on the basis of his own interpretation of the public mood without having to follow the choice of the current majority in the House of Commons. Throughout Pitt's ministry, George supported many of Pitt's political aims and created new peers at an unprecedented rate to increase the number of Pitt's supporters in the House of Lords.[85] During and after Pitt's ministry, George was extremely popular in Britain.[86] The British people admired him for his piety and for remaining faithful to his wife.[87] He was fond of his children and was devastated at the death of two of his sons in infancy, in 1782 and 1783 respectively.[88] Nevertheless, he set his children a strict regimen. They were expected to attend rigorous lessons from seven in the morning and to lead lives of religious observance and virtue.[89] When his children strayed from George's principles of righteousness, as his sons did as young adults, he was dismayed and disappointed.[90]
By this time, George's health was deteriorating. He had a mental illness characterised by acute mania, which was possibly a symptom of the genetic disease porphyria,[91] although this has been questioned: the original authors of the theory, Ida Macalpine and her son Richard Hunter, were "highly selective" in choosing evidence to support their claim. The most likely diagnosis, using more recent techniques, is bipolar disorder.[92][93][94] However, a study of samples of the King's hair published in 2005 revealed high levels of arsenic, a cause of metabolic blood disorders and thus a possible trigger for porphyria. The source of the arsenic is not known, but it could have been a component of medicines or cosmetics.[95]
The King may have had a brief episode of disease in 1765, and a longer episode began in the summer of 1788. At the end of the parliamentary session, he went to Cheltenham Spa to recuperate. It was the furthest he had ever been from London—just short of 100 miles (160 km)—but his condition worsened. In November of that year, he became seriously deranged, sometimes speaking for many hours without pause, causing him to foam at the mouth and his voice to become hoarse. George would frequently repeat himself and write sentences with over 400 words at a time, and his vocabulary became "more complex, creative and colourful", possible symptoms of bipolar disorder.[96] His doctors were largely at a loss to explain his illness, and spurious stories about his condition spread, such as the claim that he shook hands with a tree in the mistaken belief that it was the King of Prussia.[97] Treatment for mental illness was primitive by modern standards; the King's doctors, who included Francis Willis, treated the King by forcibly restraining him until he was calm, or applying caustic poultices to draw out "evil humours".[98]
In the reconvened Parliament, Fox and Pitt wrangled over the terms of a regency during the King's incapacity. While both agreed that it would be most reasonable for the Prince of Wales to act as regent, Fox suggested, to Pitt's consternation, that it was the Prince's absolute right to act on his ill father's behalf with full powers. Pitt, fearing he would be removed from office if the Prince of Wales were empowered, argued that it was for Parliament to nominate a regent, and wanted to restrict the regent's authority.[99] In February 1789, the Regency Bill, authorising the Prince of Wales to act as regent, was introduced and passed in the House of Commons, but before the House of Lords could pass the bill, George III recovered.[100]
Slavery
Dunmore's Proclamation, by the King's authority, set free Rebel slaves.
Over the course of George's reign, a coalition of abolitionists and Atlantic slave uprisings caused the British public to spurn slavery. According to the historian Andrew Roberts, "George never bought or sold a slave in his life. He never invested in any of the companies that did such a thing. He signed legislation to abolish slavery." George wrote a document in the 1750s "denouncing all of the arguments for slavery, and calling them an execration and ridiculous and 'absurd',"[101] but the King and his son, the Duke of Clarence, supported the efforts of the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants to delay the abolition of the British slave trade for almost 20 years.[102][103] Pitt conversely wished to see slavery abolished but, because the cabinet was divided and the King was in the pro-slavery camp,[104][105] Pitt decided to refrain from making abolition official government policy. Instead, he worked toward abolition in an individual capacity.[106]
On 7 November 1775, during the American War of Independence, John Murray, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation that freed slaves of Rebel masters who would enlist to put down the colonial rebellion. Dunmore was the last Royal Governor of Virginia, appointed by King George III in July 1771. Dunmore's Proclamation inspired slaves to escape from captivity and fight for the British. On 30 June 1779, George III's Commanding General Henry Clinton broadened Dunmore's proclamation with his Philipsburg Proclamation. For all colonial slaves who fled their Rebel masters, Clinton forbade their recapture and resale, giving them protection by the British military. Approximately 20,000 freed slaves joined the British, fighting for George III. In 1783, given British certificates of freedom, 3,000 former slaves, including their families, settled in Nova Scotia.[107]
Between 1791 and 1800, almost 400,000 Africans were shipped to the Americas, by 1,340 slaving voyages, mounted from British ports, including Liverpool and Bristol. On 25 March 1807 George III signed into law An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, under which the transatlantic slave trade was banned in the British Empire.[108]
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
George wearing the red jacket of an 1800 British army general with the star of the Order of the Garter, white breeches, black knee-high boots, and a black bicorne hat. Behind him a groom holds a horse.
Portrait by Sir William Beechey, 1799/1800
A span-high Napoleon stands on the outstretched hand of a full-size George III, who peers at him through a spy-glass.
Caricature by James Gillray of George holding Napoleon in the palm of his hand, 1803
After George's recovery, his popularity, and that of Pitt, continued to increase at the expense of Fox and the Prince of Wales.[109] His humane and understanding treatment of two insane assailants, Margaret Nicholson in 1786 and John Frith in 1790, contributed to his popularity.[110] James Hadfield's failed attempt to shoot the King in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on 15 May 1800 was not political in origin but motivated by the apocalyptic delusions of Hadfield and Bannister Truelock. George seemed unperturbed by the incident, so much so that he fell asleep in the interval.[111]
The French Revolution of 1789, in which the French monarchy had been overthrown, worried many British landowners. France declared war on Great Britain in 1793; in response to the crisis, George allowed Pitt to increase taxes, raise armies, and suspend the right of habeas corpus. The First Coalition to oppose revolutionary France, which included Austria, Prussia, and Spain, broke up in 1795 when Prussia and Spain made separate peace with France.[112] The Second Coalition, which included Austria, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, was defeated in 1800. Only Great Britain was left fighting Napoleon Bonaparte, the First Consul of the French Republic.
A brief lull in hostilities allowed Pitt to concentrate effort on Ireland, where there had been an uprising and attempted French landing in 1798.[113] In 1800, the British and Irish Parliaments passed an Act of Union that took effect on 1 January 1801 and united Great Britain and Ireland into a single state, known as the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". George used the opportunity to abandon the title "king of France", which English and British sovereigns had maintained since the reign of Edward III.[114] It was suggested that George adopt the title "Emperor of the British Isles", but he refused.[9] As part of his Irish policy, Pitt planned to remove certain legal disabilities that applied to Roman Catholics. George III claimed that to emancipate Catholics would be to violate his coronation oath, in which sovereigns promise to maintain Protestantism.[115] Faced with opposition to his religious reform policies from both the King and the British public, Pitt threatened to resign.[116] At about the same time, the King had a relapse of his previous illness, which he blamed on worry over the Catholic question.[117] On 14 March 1801, Pitt was formally replaced by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Henry Addington. Addington opposed emancipation, instituted annual accounts, abolished income tax and began a programme of disarmament. In October 1801, he made peace with the French, and in 1802 signed the Treaty of Amiens.[118]
George did not consider the peace with France as real; in his view it was an "experiment".[119] The war resumed in 1803, but public opinion distrusted Addington to lead the nation in war, and instead favoured Pitt. An invasion of England by Napoleon seemed imminent, and a massive volunteer movement arose to defend England against the French. George's review of 27,000 volunteers in Hyde Park, London, on 26 and 28 October 1803 and at the height of the invasion scare, attracted an estimated 500,000 spectators on each day.[120] The Times said: "The enthusiasm of the multitude was beyond all expression."[121] A courtier wrote on 13 November that "The King is really prepared to take the field in case of attack, his beds are ready and he can move at half an hour's warning."[122] George wrote to his friend Bishop Hurd, "We are here in daily expectation that Bonaparte will attempt his threatened invasion ... Should his troops effect a landing, I shall certainly put myself at the head of mine, and my other armed subjects, to repel them."[123] After Admiral Lord Nelson's famous naval victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, the possibility of invasion was extinguished.[124]
The King, his face obscured by a pillar, kicks out at the behinds of a group of well-fed ministers.
In A Kick at the Broad-Bottoms! (1807), James Gillray caricatured George's dismissal of the Ministry of All the Talents.
In 1804, George's recurrent illness returned; after his recovery, Addington resigned and Pitt regained power. Pitt sought to appoint Fox to his ministry, but George refused. Lord Grenville perceived an injustice to Fox, and refused to join the new ministry.[9] Pitt concentrated on forming a coalition with Austria, Russia, and Sweden. This Third Coalition, however, met the same fate as the First and Second Coalitions, collapsing in 1805. The setbacks in Europe took a toll on Pitt's health, and he died in 1806, reopening the question of who should serve in the ministry. Grenville became Prime Minister, and his "Ministry of All the Talents" included Fox. Grenville pushed through the Slave Trade Act 1807, which passed both houses of Parliament with large majorities.[104] The King was conciliatory towards Fox, after being forced to capitulate over his appointment. After Fox's death in September 1806, the King and ministry were in open conflict. To boost recruitment, the ministry proposed a measure in February 1807 whereby Roman Catholics would be allowed to serve in all ranks of the armed forces. George instructed them not only to drop the measure, but also to agree never to set up such a measure again. The ministers agreed to drop the measure then pending, but refused to bind themselves in the future.[125] They were dismissed and replaced by William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, as the nominal Prime Minister, with actual power being held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Spencer Perceval. Parliament was dissolved, and the subsequent election gave the ministry a strong majority in the House of Commons. George III made no further major political decisions during his reign; the replacement of Portland by Perceval in 1809 was of little real significance.[126]
Final years, illnesses and death
Monochrome profile of elderly George with a long white beard
Engraving by Henry Meyer of George III in later life (1817)
In late 1810, at the height of his popularity,[127] King George, already virtually blind with cataracts and in pain from rheumatism, suffered a relapse into his mental disorder and became dangerously ill. In his view the malady had been triggered by stress over the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, Princess Amelia.[128] The princess's nurse reported that "the scenes of distress and crying every day ... were melancholy beyond description."[129] George accepted the need for the Regency Act 1811,[130] and the Prince of Wales (later George IV) acted as regent for the remainder of the King's life. Despite signs of a recovery in May 1811, by the end of the year George III had become permanently insane, and lived in seclusion at Windsor Castle until his death.[131]
Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated in 1812 and was replaced by Lord Liverpool. Liverpool oversaw British victory in the Napoleonic Wars. The subsequent Congress of Vienna led to significant territorial gains for Hanover, which was elevated from an electorate to a kingdom.
Meanwhile, George's health deteriorated. He developed dementia, and became completely blind and increasingly deaf. He was incapable of knowing or understanding that he was declared King of Hanover in 1814, or that his wife died in 1818.[132] At Christmas 1819, he spoke nonsense for 58 hours, and for the last few weeks of his life was unable to walk.[133] He died of pneumonia, at Windsor Castle at 8:38 pm on 29 January 1820, six days after the death of his fourth son Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn.[134] His favourite son, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, was with him.[135] George III lay in state for two days, and his funeral and interment took place on 16 February in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[134][136][137]
Legacy
George was succeeded in turn by two of his sons, George IV and William IV, who both died without surviving legitimate children, leaving the throne to Victoria, the only legitimate child of his fourth son Prince Edward.
George III lived for 81 years and 239 days and reigned for 59 years and 96 days: both his life and his reign were longer than those of any of his predecessors and subsequent kings; only queens Victoria and Elizabeth II lived and reigned longer.
Extract from Observations on the Transit of Venus, a manuscript notebook from the collections of George III, showing George, Charlotte and those attending them.
George III was dubbed "Farmer George" by satirists, at first to mock his interest in mundane matters rather than politics, but later to portray him as a man of the people, contrasting his homely thrift with his son's grandiosity.[138] Under George III, the British Agricultural Revolution reached its peak and great advances were made in fields such as science and industry. There was unprecedented growth in the rural population, which in turn provided much of the workforce for the concurrent Industrial Revolution.[139] George's collection of mathematical and scientific instruments is now owned by King's College London but housed in the Science Museum, London, to which it has been on long-term loan since 1927. He had the King's Observatory built in Richmond-upon-Thames for his own observations of the 1769 transit of Venus. When William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, he at first named it Georgium Sidus (George's Star) after the King, who later funded the construction and maintenance of Herschel's 1785 40-foot telescope, which at the time was the biggest ever built.
George III hoped that "the tongue of malice may not paint my intentions in those colours she admires, nor the sycophant extoll me beyond what I deserve"[140] but, in the popular mind, George III has been both demonised and praised. While very popular at the start of his reign, by the mid-1770s George had lost the loyalty of revolutionary American colonists,[141] though it has been estimated that as many as half of the colonists remained loyal.[142] The grievances in the United States Declaration of Independence were presented as "repeated injuries and usurpations" that he had committed to establish an "absolute Tyranny" over the colonies. The declaration's wording has contributed to the American public's perception of George as a tyrant. Contemporary accounts of George III's life fall into two camps: one demonstrating "attitudes dominant in the latter part of the reign, when the King had become a revered symbol of national resistance to French ideas and French power", while the other "derived their views of the King from the bitter partisan strife of the first two decades of the reign, and they expressed in their works the views of the opposition".[143]
Building on the latter of these two assessments, British historians of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as Trevelyan and Erskine May, promoted hostile interpretations of George III's life. However, in the mid-twentieth century the work of Lewis Namier, who thought George was "much maligned", started a re-evaluation of the man and his reign.[144] Scholars of the later twentieth century, such as Butterfield and Pares, and Macalpine and Hunter,[145] are inclined to treat George sympathetically, seeing him as a victim of circumstance and illness. Butterfield rejected the arguments of his Victorian predecessors with withering disdain: "Erskine May must be a good example of the way in which an historian may fall into error through an excess of brilliance. His capacity for synthesis, and his ability to dovetail the various parts of the evidence ... carried him into a more profound and complicated elaboration of error than some of his more pedestrian predecessors ... he inserted a doctrinal element into his history which, granted his original aberrations, was calculated to project the lines of his error, carrying his work still further from centrality or truth."[146] In pursuing war with the American colonists, George III believed he was defending the right of an elected Parliament to levy taxes, rather than seeking to expand his own power or prerogatives.[147] In the opinion of modern scholars, during the long reign of George III, the monarchy continued to lose its political power and grew as the embodiment of national morality.[9]
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
4 June 1738 – 31 March 1751: His Royal Highness Prince George[148]
31 March 1751 – 20 April 1751: His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
20 April 1751 – 25 October 1760: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
25 October 1760 – 29 January 1820: His Majesty The King
In Great Britain, George III used the official style "George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and so forth". In 1801, when Great Britain united with Ireland, he dropped the title of king of France, which had been used for every English monarch since Edward III's claim to the French throne in the medieval period.[114] His style became "George the Third, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith."[149]
In Germany, he was "Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Arch-Treasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire" (Herzog von Braunschweig und Lüneburg, Erzschatzmeister und Kurfürst des Heiligen Römischen Reiches[150]) until the end of the empire in 1806. He then continued as duke until the Congress of Vienna declared him "King of Hanover" in 1814.[149]
Honours
Great Britain: Royal Knight of the Garter, 22 June 1749[151]
Ireland: Founder of the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick, 5 February 1783[152]
Arms
Before his succession, George was granted the royal arms differenced by a label of five points Azure, the centre point bearing a fleur-de-lis Or on 27 July 1749. Upon his father's death, and along with the dukedom of Edinburgh and the position of heir-apparent, he inherited his difference of a plain label of three points Argent. In an additional difference, the crown of Charlemagne was not usually depicted on the arms of the heir, only on the Sovereign's.[153]
From his succession until 1800, George bore the royal arms: Quarterly, I Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England) impaling Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); II Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); IV tierced per pale and per chevron (for Hanover), I Gules two lions passant guardant Or (for Brunswick), II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure (for Lüneburg), III Gules a horse courant Argent (for Saxony), overall an escutcheon Gules charged with the crown of Charlemagne Or (for the dignity of Archtreasurer of the Holy Roman Empire).[154][155]
Following the Acts of Union 1800, the royal arms were amended, dropping the French quartering. They became: Quarterly, I and IV England; II Scotland; III Ireland; overall an escutcheon of Hanover surmounted by an electoral bonnet.[156] In 1816, after the Electorate of Hanover became a kingdom, the electoral bonnet was changed to a crown.[157]
Coat of arms from 1749 to 1751
Coat of arms from 1749 to 1751
Coat of arms from 1751 to 1760 as Prince of Wales
Coat of arms from 1751 to 1760 as Prince of Wales
Coat of arms used from 1760 to 1801 as King of Great Britain
Coat of arms used from 1760 to 1801 as King of Great Britain
Coat of arms used from 1801 to 1816 as King of the United Kingdom
Coat of arms used from 1801 to 1816 as King of the United Kingdom
Coat of arms used from 1816 until death, also as King of Hanover
Coat of arms used from 1816 until death, also as King of Hanover
Issue
See also: Descendants of George III
British Royalty
House of Hanover
Quarterly, I and IV Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or; II Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules; III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent; overall an escutcheon tierced per pale and per chevron, I Gules two lions passant guardant Or, II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure, III Gules a horse courant Argent, the whole inescutcheon surmounted by crown
George III
Children
George IV
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
William IV
Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen of Württemberg
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
Princess Augusta Sophia
Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg
Ernest Augustus I of Hanover
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh
Princess Sophia
Prince Octavius
Prince Alfred
Princess Amelia
Grandchildren
Charlotte, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Princess Charlotte of Clarence
Princess Elizabeth of Clarence
Victoria
Princess Frederica of Cumberland
George V of Hanover
Prince George, Duke of Cambridge
Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck
Great-grandchildren
Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover
Frederica, Baroness Alfons of Pawel-Rammingen
Princess Marie of Hanover
Great-great-grandchildren
Marie Louise, Margravine of Baden
George William, Hereditary Prince of Hanover
Alexandra, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Princess Olga of Hanover and Cumberland
Prince Christian of Hanover and Cumberland
Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick
Great-great-great-grandchildren
Ernest Augustus, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick
Prince George William of Hanover and Cumberland
Frederica, Queen of the Hellenes
vte
Name Birth Death Notes[158]
George IV 12 August 1762 26 June 1830 Prince of Wales 1762–1820; married 1795, Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel; had one daughter: Princess Charlotte
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany 16 August 1763 5 January 1827 Married 1791, Princess Frederica of Prussia; no issue
William IV 21 August 1765 20 June 1837 Duke of Clarence and St Andrews; married 1818, Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen; no surviving legitimate issue, but had illegitimate children with Dorothea Jordan
Charlotte, Princess Royal 29 September 1766 6 October 1828 Married 1797, King Frederick of Württemberg; no surviving issue
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn 2 November 1767 23 January 1820 Married 1818, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; Queen Victoria was their daughter; descendants include Charles III, Felipe VI of Spain, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Harald V of Norway and Margrethe II of Denmark.
Princess Augusta Sophia 8 November 1768 22 September 1840 Never married, no issue
Princess Elizabeth 22 May 1770 10 January 1840 Married 1818, Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg; no issue
Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover 5 June 1771 18 November 1851 Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale 1799–1851; married 1815, Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; had issue; descendants include Prince Ernst August of Hanover, Constantine II of Greece and Felipe VI of Spain.
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex 27 January 1773 21 April 1843 (1) Married 1793, in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772, Lady Augusta Murray; had issue; marriage annulled 1794
(2) Married 1831, Lady Cecilia Buggin (later Duchess of Inverness in her own right); no issue
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge 24 February 1774 8 July 1850 Married 1818, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel; had issue; descendants include Charles III
Princess Mary 25 April 1776 30 April 1857 Married 1816, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh; no issue
Princess Sophia 3 November 1777 27 May 1848 Never married, no issue
Prince Octavius 23 February 1779 3 May 1783 Died in childhood
Prince Alfred 22 September 1780 20 August 1782 Died in childhood
Princess Amelia 7 August 1783 2 November 1810 Never married, no issue
Ancestry
Ancestors of George III[159]
See also
Cultural depictions of George III
List of mentally ill monarchs
Notes
United Kingdom from 1 January 1801, following the Acts of Union 1800.
King from 12 October 1814.
All dates in this article are in the New Style Gregorian calendar. George was born on 24 May in the Old Style Julian calendar used in Great Britain until 1752.
George was falsely said to have married Hannah Lightfoot, a Quaker, on 17 April 1759, prior to his marriage to Charlotte, and to have had at least one child by her. However, Lightfoot had married Isaac Axford in 1753, and had died in or before 1759, so there could have been no legal marriage or children. The jury at the 1866 trial of Lavinia Ryves, the daughter of imposter Olivia Serres who pretended to be "Princess Olive of Cumberland", unanimously found that a supposed marriage certificate produced by Ryves was a forgery.[20]
For example, the letters of Horace Walpole written at the time of the accession defended George but Walpole's later memoirs were hostile.[27]
An American taxpayer would pay a maximum of sixpence a year, compared to an average of twenty-five shillings (50 times as much) in England.[42] In 1763, the total revenue from America amounted to about £1 800, while the estimated annual cost of the military in America was put at £225 000. By 1767, it had risen to £400 000.[43]
References
"George III". Official website of the British monarchy. Royal Household. 31 December 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
Brooke, p. 314; Fraser, p. 277.
Butterfield, p. 9.
Hibbert, p. 8.
The Third Register Book of the Parish of St James in the Liberty of Westminster For Births & Baptisms. 1723–1741. 24 May 1738.
"No. 7712". The London Gazette. 20 June 1738. p. 2.
Brooke, pp. 23–41.
Brooke, pp. 42–44, 55.
Cannon, John (September 2004). "George III (1738–1820)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10540. Retrieved 29 October 2008. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (Subscription required).
Sedgwick, pp. ix–x.
"No. 9050". The London Gazette. 16 April 1751. p. 1.
Hibbert, pp. 3–15.
Brooke, pp. 51–52; Hibbert, pp. 24–25.
Bullion, John L. (2004). "Augusta, princess of Wales (1719–1772)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/46829. Retrieved 17 September 2008 (Subscription required).
Ayling, p. 33.
Ayling, p. 54; Brooke, pp. 71–72.
Ayling, pp. 36–37; Brooke, p. 49; Hibbert, p. 31.
Benjamin, p. 62.
Hadlow, Janice (2014). A royal experiment : the private life of King George III. New York: Holt. pp. 139–148. ISBN 9780805096569.
"Documents relating to the case". The National Archives. Retrieved 14 October 2008.
Ayling, pp. 85–87.
Ayling, p. 378; Cannon and Griffiths, p. 518.
Watson, p. 549.
Brooke, p. 612.
Brooke, p. 156; Simms and Riotte, p. 58.
Baer, George III (1738–1820), 22 December 2021
Butterfield, pp. 22, 115–117, 129–130.
Hibbert, p. 86; Watson, pp. 67–79.
"Our history". The Crown Estate. 2004. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
Kelso, Paul (6 March 2000). "The royal family and the public purse". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
Watson, p. 88; this view is also shared by Brooke (see for example p. 99).
Medley, p. 501.
Ayling, p. 194; Brooke, pp. xv, 214, 301.
Brooke, p. 215.
Ayling, p. 195.
Ayling, pp. 196–198.
Brooke, p. 145; Carretta, pp. 59, 64 ff.; Watson, p. 93.
Brooke, pp. 146–147.
Willcox & Arnstein (1988), pp. 131–132.
Chernow, p. 137.
Watson, pp. 183–184.
Cannon and Griffiths, p. 505; Hibbert, p. 122.
Cannon and Griffiths, p. 505.
Black, p. 82.
Watson, pp. 184–185.
Ayling, pp. 122–133; Hibbert, pp. 107–109; Watson, pp. 106–111.
Ayling, pp. 122–133; Hibbert, pp. 111–113.
Ayling, p. 137; Hibbert, p. 124.
Ayling, pp. 154–160; Brooke, pp. 147–151.
Ayling, pp. 167–168; Hibbert, p. 140.
Brooke, p. 260; Fraser, p. 277.
Brooke, pp. 272–282; Cannon and Griffiths, p. 498.
Hibbert, p. 141.
Hibbert, p. 143.
Watson, p. 197.
Thomas, p. 31.
Ayling, p. 121.
Taylor (2016), pp. 91-100
Chernow, pp. 214–215.
Carretta, pp. 97–98, 367.
O'Shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson (2014). The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire. pp. 158–164.
Willcox & Arnstein (1988), p. 162.
O'Shaughnessy, ch 1.
Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 4.
Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 5.
Cannon and Griffiths, pp. 510–511.
Brooke, p. 183.
Brooke, pp. 180–182, 192, 223.
Hibbert, pp. 156–157.
Willcox & Arnstein, p. 157.
Willcox & Arnstein, pp. 161, 165.
Ayling, pp. 275–276.
Taylor (2016), p.287
Taylor (2016), p. 290
Ayling, p. 284.
The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army (1994) p. 129.
Brooke, p. 221.
U.S. Department of State, Treaty of Paris, 1783. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
Bullion, George III on Empire, 1783, p. 306.
Roos, Dave (7 October 2021). "Famous Loyalists of the Revolutionary War Era". history.com. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
Adams, C.F., ed. (1850–1856), The works of John Adams, second president of the United States, vol. VIII, pp. 255–257, quoted in Ayling, p. 323 and Hibbert, p. 165.
e.g. Ayling, p. 281.
Hibbert, p. 243; Pares, p. 120.
Brooke, pp. 250–251.
Watson, pp. 272–279.
Brooke, p. 316; Carretta, pp. 262, 297.
Brooke, p. 259.
Ayling, p. 218.
Ayling, p. 220.
Ayling, pp. 222–230, 366–376.
Röhl, Warren, and Hunt.
Peters, Timothy J.; Wilkinson, D. (2010). "King George III and porphyria: a clinical re-examination of the historical evidence". History of Psychiatry. 21 (1): 3–19. doi:10.1177/0957154X09102616. PMID 21877427. S2CID 22391207.
Peters, T. (June 2011). "King George III, bipolar disorder, porphyria and lessons for historians". Clinical Medicine. 11 (3): 261–264. doi:10.7861/clinmedicine.11-3-261. PMC 4953321. PMID 21902081.
Rentoumi, V.; Peters, T.; Conlin, J.; Gerrard, P. (2017). "The acute mania of King George III: A computational linguistic analysis". PLOS One. 3 (12): e0171626. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1271626R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171626. PMC 5362044. PMID 28328964.
Cox, Timothy M.; Jack, N.; Lofthouse, S.; Watling, J.; Haines, J.; Warren, M. J. (2005). "King George III and porphyria: an elemental hypothesis and investigation". The Lancet. 366 (9482): 332–335. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66991-7. PMID 16039338. S2CID 13109527.
"Was George III a manic depressive?". BBC News. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
Ayling, pp. 329–335; Brooke, pp. 322–328; Fraser, pp. 281–282; Hibbert, pp. 262–267.
Ayling, pp. 334–343; Brooke, p. 332; Fraser, p. 282.
Ayling, pp. 338–342; Hibbert, p. 273.
Ayling, p. 345.
Why Andrew Roberts Wants Us to Reconsider King George III, Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 9 November 2021, accessed 5 December 2021
Newman, Brooke (28 July 2020). "Throne of Blood". slate.com. Slate. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
Rodriguez, Junius P. (26 March 2015). Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World. Routledge. ISBN 9781317471806 – via Google Books.
"Reasons for the success of the abolitionist campaign in 1807". BBC. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
"Black Abolitionists and the end of the transatlantic slave trade". Black History Month 2019.
Ditchfield, G. (31 October 2002). George III: An Essay in Monarchy. Springer. ISBN 9780230599437 – via Google Books.
Klein, Christopher (13 February 2020). "The Ex-Slaves Who Fought with the British". History. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
"Transatlantic slave trade and abolition". Royal Museums Greenwich. 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
Ayling, pp. 349–350; Carretta, p. 285; Fraser, p. 282; Hibbert, pp. 301–302; Watson, p. 323.
Carretta, p. 275.
Ayling, pp. 181–182; Fraser, p. 282.
Ayling, pp. 395–396; Watson, pp. 360–377.
Ayling, pp. 408–409.
Weir, p. 286.
Ayling, p. 411.
Hibbert, p. 313.
Ayling, p. 414; Brooke, p. 374; Hibbert, p. 315.
Watson, pp. 402–409.
Ayling, p. 423.
Colley, p. 225.
The Times, 27 October 1803, p. 2.
Brooke, p. 597.
Letter of 30 November 1803, quoted in Wheeler and Broadley, p. xiii.
"Nelson, Trafalgar, and those who served". National Archives. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
Pares, p. 139.
Ayling, pp. 441–442.
Brooke, p. 381; Carretta, p. 340.
Hibbert, p. 396.
Hibbert, p. 394.
Brooke, p. 383; Hibbert, pp. 397–398.
Fraser, p. 285; Hibbert, pp. 399–402.
Ayling, pp. 453–455; Brooke, pp. 384–385; Hibbert, p. 405.
Hibbert, p. 408.
Black, p. 410.
Letter from Duke of York to George IV, quoted in Brooke, p. 386.
"Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805". St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Dean and Canons of Windsor. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
Brooke, p. 387.
Carretta, pp. 92–93, 267–273, 302–305, 317.
Watson, pp. 10–11.
Brooke, p. 90.
Carretta, pp. 99–101, 123–126.
Ayling, p. 247.
Reitan, p. viii.
Reitan, pp. xii–xiii.
Macalpine, Ida; Hunter, Richard A. (1991) [1969]. George III and the Mad-Business. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0-7126-5279-7
Butterfield, p. 152.
Brooke, pp. 175–176.
The London Gazette consistently refers to the young prince as "His Royal Highness Prince George" "No. 8734". The London Gazette. 5 April 1748. p. 3. "No. 8735". The London Gazette. 9 April 1748. p. 2. "No. 8860". The London Gazette. 20 June 1749. p. 2. "No. 8898". The London Gazette. 31 October 1749. p. 3. "No. 8902". The London Gazette. 17 November 1749. p. 3. "No. 8963". The London Gazette. 16 June 1750. p. 1. "No. 8971". The London Gazette. 14 July 1750. p. 1.
Brooke, p. 390.
Marquardt, Bernd (28 July 2018). Universalgeschichte des Staates: von der vorstaatlichen Gesellschaft zum Staat der Industriegesellschaft. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 9783643900043 – via Google Books.
Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 44.
Shaw, p. ix.
Velde, François (5 August 2013). "Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family". Heraldica. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
See, for example, Berry, William (1810). An introduction to heraldry containing the rudiments of the science. pp. 110–111.
Pinches, John Harvey; Pinches, Rosemary (1974). The Royal Heraldry of England. Heraldry Today. Slough, Buckinghamshire: Hollen Street Press. pp. 215–216. ISBN 978-0-900455-25-4.
"No. 15324". The London Gazette. 30 December 1800. p. 2.
"No. 17149". The London Gazette. 29 June 1816. p. 1.
Kiste, John Van der (19 January 2004). George III's Children. The History Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780750953825.
Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 4.
Bibliography
Ayling, Stanley Edward (1972). George the Third. London: Collins. ISBN 0-00-211412-7.
Benjamin, Lewis Saul (1907). Farmer George. Pitman and Sons.
Baer, Marc (22 December 2021). "George III (1738–1820)". Encyclopedia Virginia.
Bullion, John L. (1994). "George III on Empire, 1783". The William and Mary Quarterly. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. 51 (2): 305–310. doi:10.2307/2946866. JSTOR 2946866.
Black, Jeremy (2006). George III: America's Last King. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11732-9.
Brooke, John (1972). King George III. London: Constable. ISBN 0-09-456110-9.
Butterfield, Herbert (1957). George III and the Historians. London: Collins.
Cannon, John (2004). "George III (1738–1820)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10540. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Cannon, John; Griffiths, Ralph (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822786-8.
Carretta, Vincent (1990). George III and the Satirists from Hogarth to Byron. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-1146-4.
Chernow, Ron (2010). Washington: A Life. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-266-7.
Colley, Linda (2005). Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707–1837. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300107595.
Fraser, Antonia (1975). The Lives of the Kings and Queen of England. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-76911-1.
Hibbert, Christopher (1999). George III: A Personal History. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-025737-3.
Medley, Dudley Julius (1902). A Student's Manual of English Constitutional History. p. 501.
O'Shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson (2013). The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire. ISBN 9780300191073.
Pares, Richard (1953). King George III and the Politicians. Oxford University Press.
Reitan, E. A., ed. (1964). George III, Tyrant Or Constitutional Monarch?. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company. A compilation of essays encompassing the major assessments of George III up to 1964
Röhl, John C. G.; Warren, Martin; Hunt, David (1998). Purple Secret: Genes, "Madness" and the Royal Houses of Europe. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-04148-8.
Sedgwick, Romney, ed. (1903). Letters from George III to Lord Bute, 1756–1766. Macmillan.
Simms, Brendan; Riotte, Torsten (2007). The Hanoverian Dimension in British History, 1714–1837. Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, Alan (2016). American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-393-35476-8.
Thomas, Peter D. G. (1985). "George III and the American Revolution". History. 70 (228): 16–31. doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.1985.tb02477.x.
Trevelyan, George (1912). George the Third and Charles Fox: The Concluding Part of the American Revolution. New York: Longmans, Green.
Watson, J. Steven (1960). The Reign of George III, 1760–1815. London: Oxford University Press.
Weir, Alison (1996). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (Revised ed.). London: Random House. ISBN 0-7126-7448-9.
Wheeler, H. F. B.; Broadley, A. M. (1908). Napoleon and the Invasion of England. Volume I. London: John Lane The Bodley Head.
Willcox, William B.; Arnstein, Walter L. (1988). The Age of Aristocracy 1688 to 1830 (Fifth ed.). D.C. Heath and Company. ISBN 0-669-13423-6.
Further reading
Black, Jeremy (1996). "Could the British Have Won the American War of Independence?". Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. 74 (299): 145–154. JSTOR 44225322. Online 90-minute video lecture given at Ohio State in 2006; requires Real Player.
Butterfield, Herbert (1965). "Some Reflections on the Early Years of George III's Reign". Journal of British Studies. 4 (2): 78–101. doi:10.1086/385501. JSTOR 175147. S2CID 162958860.
Ditchfield, G. M. (31 October 2002). George III: An Essay in Monarchy. ISBN 9780333919620.
Golding, Christopher T. (2017). At Water's Edge: Britain, Napoleon, and the World, 1793–1815. Temple University Press.
Hadlow, Janice (2014). A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III. Henry Holt and Company.
Hecht, J. Jean (1966). "The Reign of George III in Recent Historiography". In Furber, Elizabeth Chapin (ed.). Changing views on British history: essays on historical writing since 1939. Harvard University Press. pp. 206–234.
Macalpine, Ida; Hunter, Richard (1966). "The 'insanity' of King George III: a classic case of porphyria". Br. Med. J. 1 (5479): 65–71. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5479.65. PMC 1843211. PMID 5323262.
Macalpine, I.; Hunter, R.; Rimington, C. (1968). "Porphyria in the Royal Houses of Stuart, Hanover, and Prussia". British Medical Journal. 1 (5583): 7–18. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5583.7. PMC 1984936. PMID 4866084.
Namier, Lewis B. (1955). "King George III: A Study in Personality". Personalities and Power. London: Hamish Hamilton.
O'Shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson (Spring 2004). "'If Others Will Not Be Active, I Must Drive': George III and the American Revolution". Early American Studies. 2 (1): iii, 1–46. doi:10.1353/eam.2007.0037. S2CID 143613757.
Roberts, Andrew (2021). The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III. Viking Press. ISBN 978-1984879264.
Robertson, Charles Grant (1911). England under the Hanoverians. London: Methuen.
Robson, Eric (1952). "The American Revolution Reconsidered". History Today. 2 (2): 126–132. British views
Smith, Robert A. (1984). "Reinterpreting the Reign of George III". In Schlatter, Richard (ed.). Recent Views on British History: Essays on Historical Writing since 1966. Rutgers University Press. pp. 197–254.
External links
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Georgian Papers Programme
George III papers, including references to madhouses and insanity from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
Newspaper clippings about George III in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
"Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – Estimates". slavevoyages.org.
George III
House of Hanover
Cadet branch of the House of Welf
Born: 4 June 1738 Died: 29 January 1820
Regnal titles
Preceded by
George II
King of Great Britain and Ireland
25 October 1760 – 31 December 1800 Acts of Union 1800
Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
25 October 1760 – 12 October 1814 Congress of Vienna
Acts of Union 1800 King of the United Kingdom
1 January 1801 – 29 January 1820 Succeeded by
George IV
Congress of Vienna King of Hanover
12 October 1814 – 29 January 1820
British royalty
Preceded by
Frederick
Prince of Wales
1751–1760 Vacant
Title next held by
George (IV)
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Prince Frederick
Duke of Edinburgh
1st creation
1751–1760 Merged with the Crown
Titles in pretence
Preceded by
George II
— TITULAR —
King of France
25 October 1760 – 31 December 1800 Title abandoned
Articles and topics related to George III of the United Kingdom
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George III
Family
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (wife)George IV, King of the United Kingdom (son)Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (son)William IV, King of the United Kingdom (son)Charlotte, Princess Royal (daughter)Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (son)Augusta (daughter)Elizabeth (daughter)Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (son)Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (son)Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (son)Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (daughter)Sophia (daughter)Octavius (son)Alfred (son)Amelia (daughter)Frederick, Prince of Wales (father)Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (mother)
Reign
Seven Years' WarRoyal Proclamation of 1763Royal Marriages Act 1772American Revolution American Revolutionary WarFrench Revolutionary WarsIrish Rebellion of 1798Acts of Union 1800Treaty of AmiensNapoleonic WarsGolden Jubilee Jubilee RockRegency Act 1811 Regency era
Cultural depictions
Theatre, film, radio and television
America (1924, film)The Young Mr. Pitt (1942, film)Mrs. Fitzherbert (1947, film)Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969, music theatre)Barry Lyndon (1975, film)The Adams Chronicles (1976, TV)Prince Regent (1979, TV)In the Ruins (1984, radio play)Blackadder the Third "Duel and Duality" (1987, TV)The Madness of George III (1991, play)The Madness of King George (1994, film)Longitude (2000, TV)John Adams (2008, TV)Hamilton: An American Musical (2015, musical)Mr Foote's Other Leg (2015, play)Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023, TV)
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Monarchs of England until 1603 Monarchs of Scotland until 1603
Æthelstan (from 927)Edmund IEadredEadwigEdgar the PeacefulEdward the MartyrÆthelred the UnreadySweynEdmund IronsideCnutHarold IHarthacnutEdward the ConfessorHarold GodwinsonEdgar ÆthelingWilliam IWilliam IIHenry IStephenMatildaHenry IIHenry the Young KingRichard IJohnHenry IIIEdward IEdward IIEdward IIIRichard IIHenry IVHenry VHenry VIEdward IVEdward VRichard IIIHenry VIIHenry VIIIEdward VIJaneMary I and PhilipElizabeth I
Kenneth I MacAlpinDonald IConstantine IÁedGiricEochaidDonald IIConstantine IIMalcolm IIndulfDubCuilénAmlaíbKenneth IIConstantine IIIKenneth IIIMalcolm IIDuncan IMacbethLulachMalcolm IIIDonald IIIDuncan IIEdgarAlexander IDavid IMalcolm IVWilliam IAlexander IIAlexander IIIMargaretJohnRobert IDavid IIEdward BalliolRobert IIRobert IIIJames IJames IIJames IIIJames IVJames VMary IJames VI
Monarchs of England and Scotland after the Union of the Crowns from 1603
James I and VICharles ICharles IIJames II and VIIWilliam III and II and Mary IIAnne
British monarchs after the Acts of Union 1707
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Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.
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The generations indicate descent from George I, who formalised the use of the titles prince and princess for members of the British royal family.
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2nd generation
Frederick, Prince of WalesPrince George WilliamPrince William, Duke of Cumberland
3rd generation
King George IIIPrince Edward, Duke of York and AlbanyPrince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and EdinburghPrince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and StrathearnPrince Frederick
4th generation
King George IVPrince Frederick, Duke of York and AlbanyKing William IVPrince Edward, Duke of Kent and StrathearnKing Ernest Augustus of HanoverPrince Augustus Frederick, Duke of SussexPrince Adolphus, Duke of CambridgePrince OctaviusPrince AlfredPrince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh
5th generation
Prince Albert1King George V of HanoverPrince George, Duke of Cambridge
6th generation
King Edward VIIPrince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and GothaPrince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and StrathearnPrince Leopold, Duke of AlbanyPrince Ernest Augustus
7th generation
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and AvondaleKing George VPrince Alexander John of WalesAlfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and GothaPrince Arthur of ConnaughtPrince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany and of Saxe-Coburg and GothaPrince George William of HanoverPrince Christian of HanoverPrince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick
8th generation
King Edward VIIIKing George VIPrince Henry, Duke of GloucesterPrince George, Duke of KentPrince JohnAlastair, 2nd Duke of Connaught and StrathearnJohann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and GothaPrince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and GothaPrince Ernest Augustus of HanoverPrince George William of Hanover
9th generation
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh2Prince William of GloucesterPrince Richard, Duke of GloucesterPrince Edward, Duke of KentPrince Michael of Kent
10th generation
King Charles IIIPrince Andrew, Duke of YorkPrince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar
11th generation
William, Prince of WalesPrince Harry, Duke of SussexJames Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn3
12th generation
Prince George of WalesPrince Louis of WalesArchie Mountbatten-Windsor3
1 Not a British prince by birth, but created Prince Consort. 2 Not a British prince by birth, but created a Prince of the United Kingdom. 3 Status debatable; see James, Viscount Severn#Titles and styles and Archie Mountbatten-Windsor#Title, styles and succession for details.
Princes that lost their title and status or did not use the title are shown in italics.
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Princes of Wales
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See also: Principality of Wales
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Rulers of Hanover
Electors of Hanover
Ernest Augustus I (Elector-designate)George I Louis*George II*George III*
Kings of Hanover
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* also British monarch **Also Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale
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Categories: George III of the United Kingdom1738 births1820 deaths18th-century British people19th-century British monarchs18th-century Irish monarchsBlind people from EnglandBlind royalty and nobilityBritish art collectorsBritish book and manuscript collectorsBritish people of the American RevolutionBurials at St George's Chapel, Windsor CastleDeafblind people from the United KingdomDeaths from pneumonia in EnglandDukes of Bremen and VerdenDukes of EdinburghDukes of Saxe-LauenburgEnglish people with disabilitiesEnglish pretenders to the French throneHeirs to the British throneKings of HanoverKnights of the GarterMonarchs of Great BritainMonarchs of the Isle of ManMonarchs of the United KingdomPeople from WestminsterPrince-electors of HanoverPrinces of Great BritainPrinces of WalesRegency eraRoyal Botanic Gardens, KewChildren of Frederick, Prince of Wales
1788
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the year 1788. For the musician, see 1788-L.
Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries:
17th century18th century 19th century
Decades:
1760s1770s1780s1790s1800s
Years:
1785178617871788178917901791
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1788 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar 1788
MDCCLXXXVIII
Ab urbe condita 2541
Armenian calendar 1237
ԹՎ ՌՄԼԷ
Assyrian calendar 6538
Balinese saka calendar 1709–1710
Bengali calendar 1195
Berber calendar 2738
British Regnal year 28 Geo. 3 – 29 Geo. 3
Buddhist calendar 2332
Burmese calendar 1150
Byzantine calendar 7296–7297
Chinese calendar 丁未年 (Fire Goat)
4484 or 4424
— to —
戊申年 (Earth Monkey)
4485 or 4425
Coptic calendar 1504–1505
Discordian calendar 2954
Ethiopian calendar 1780–1781
Hebrew calendar 5548–5549
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat 1844–1845
- Shaka Samvat 1709–1710
- Kali Yuga 4888–4889
Holocene calendar 11788
Igbo calendar 788–789
Iranian calendar 1166–1167
Islamic calendar 1202–1203
Japanese calendar Tenmei 8
(天明８年)
Javanese calendar 1714–1715
Julian calendar Gregorian minus 11 days
Korean calendar 4121
Minguo calendar 124 before ROC
民前124年
Nanakshahi calendar 320
Thai solar calendar 2330–2331
Tibetan calendar 阴火羊年
(female Fire-Goat)
1914 or 1533 or 761
— to —
阳土猴年
(male Earth-Monkey)
1915 or 1534 or 762
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1788.
February 7: The Colony of New South Wales is established.
March 21: The Great New Orleans Fire leaves most of the town in ruins
1788 (MDCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1788th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 788th year of the 2nd millennium, the 88th year of the 18th century, and the 9th year of the 1780s decade. As of the start of 1788, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Events
January–March
January 1 – The first edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published in London.[1]
January 2 – Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fourth U.S. state under the new government.
January 9 – Connecticut ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fifth U.S. state.
January 18 – The leading ship (armed tender HMS Supply) in Captain Arthur Phillip's First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, to colonise Australia.
January 22 – the Congress of the Confederation, effectively a caretaker government until the United States Constitution can be ratified by at least nine of the 13 states, elects Cyrus Griffin as its last president.[2]
January 24 – The La Perouse expedition in the Astrolabe and Boussole arrives off Botany Bay, just as Captain Arthur Phillip is attempting to move his colony from there to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson.
January 26 – Australia Day: Eleven ships of the First Fleet from Botany Bay, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, land at Sydney Cove (which will become Sydney), Australia, where he determines to establish the British prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.
January 31 – Henry Benedict Stuart becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain, as King Henry IX and the figurehead of Jacobitism.
February 1 – Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent a steamboat.
February 6 – Massachusetts ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the sixth U.S. state.
February 7 – Sydney is named and founded, by the British Colony of New South Wales.
February 9 – Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92), and attacks Moldavia.
February 17 – The uninhabited Lord Howe Island is discovered by the brig HMS Supply, commanded by Lieutenant Ball, who is on his way from Botany Bay to Norfolk Island with convicts to start a penal settlement there. They arrive at Norfolk Island on March 6.
March 10 – The La Perouse expedition leaves Sydney Cove for New Caledonia, never to be seen again.
March 14 – The Edinburgh Evening Courant carries a notice of £200 reward for the capture of William Brodie, a town councilor doubling as a burglar.
March 21 – The Great New Orleans Fire kills 25% of the population and destroys 856 buildings, including St. Louis Cathedral and The Cabildo, leaving most of the town in ruins.
April–June
April 7 – American pioneers establish the town of Marietta (in modern-day Ohio), the first permanent American settlement outside the original Thirteen Colonies.
April 13 – America's first recorded riot, the 'Doctors' Mob', begins. Residents of Manhattan are angry about grave robbers stealing bodies for doctors to dissect. The rioting is suppressed on April 15.
April 28 – Maryland ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the seventh U.S. state.
May 10 – The Royal Dramatic Theatre (Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern), Sweden's national drama company, is founded.
May 15 – The Australian frontier wars begin.
May 23 – South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the eighth U.S. state.
June 7 – France: Day of the Tiles, which some consider the beginning of the French Revolution.
June 9 – The African Association, an exploration group dedicated to plotting the Niger River and finding Timbuktu, is founded in England.
June 17 – English captains Thomas Gilbert and John Marshall, returning from Botany Bay, become the first Europeans to encounter the Gilbert Islands in the Pacific Ocean.[3] They also chart islands in "Lord Mulgrove's range", later known as the Marshall Islands.
June 21 – New Hampshire ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the ninth U.S. state, enabling the Constitution to go into effect. (The latter happens on March 4, 1789, when the first Congress elected under the new Constitution assembles.)
June 25 – The Virginia Ratifying Convention ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the tenth U.S. state under the new government.
June 26 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his antepenultimate symphony, now called the Symphony No. 39 in E-flat.
July–September
July 13 – A hailstorm sweeps across France and the Dutch Republic, with hailstones 'as big as quart bottles' that take 'three days to melt'; immense damage is done.[4]
July 24 – Governor General Lord Dorchester, by proclamation issued from the Chateau St. Louis in Quebec City, divides the British Province of Quebec into five Districts, namely: Gaspé, Nassau, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Hesse.
July 26 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the eleventh U.S. state.
July 28 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his penultimate symphony, now called the Symphony No. 40 in G Minor.
August 8 – King Louis XVI of France agrees to convene the Estates-General meeting in May 1789, the first time since 1614.
August 10 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his final symphony, now called the Symphony No. 41 in C Major, and nicknamed (after his death) The Jupiter.
August 12 – The Anjala conspiracy is signed.[5]
August 27 – The trial of Deacon William Brodie for burglary begins in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is sentenced to death by hanging.
September 13 – The United States Congress of the Confederation passes an act providing a timeline for the voting for the first President under the new U.S. Constitution.[6]
September 21 – Austro-Turkish War - Battle of Karánsebes: The Austrian army engages in a friendly-fire incident, which results in mass casualties.
September 24 – The Theater War begins, when the army of Denmark–Norway invades Sweden.
October–December
October 1 – William Brodie is hanged at the Tolbooth in Edinburgh.
October 21 – The 14th and last session of the Continental Congress and (the 6th as Congress under the Articles of Confederation) is adjourned.[2]
October – King George III of the United Kingdom becomes deranged; the Regency Crisis of 1788 starts.
November 8 – Voting takes place in the 11 states that have ratified the United States Constitution for the first U.S. Senators; in Virginia, Richard Henry Lee and William Grayson, both anti-federalists, receive the highest number of votes in the Virginia Senate.[7]
November 15 – Cyrus Griffin of Virginia completes his service as the last President of the Congress of the Confederation, under the Articles of Confederation.
November 20 – In the United Kingdom, the Houses of Parliament are given the first formal report by Prime Minister Pitt of the mental illness of King George III. Parliament adjourns for two weeks, to await the results of examinations by royal physicians.[8]
November 25 – Fifty consecutive days of temperatures below freezing strike France, a record that will be unbroken more than 200 years later.[9]
December 6 – Russo-Turkish War (1787–92): The Ottoman fortress of Özi falls to the Russians after a prolonged siege, and a murderous storm with a temperature of −23 °C (−9 °F).
December 14 – King Charles III of Spain dies, and is succeeded by his son Charles IV.
December – Robert Burns writes his version of the Scots poem Auld Lang Syne.[10]
Undated
Annual British iron production reaches 68,000 tons.
Births
January 22 – George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, English poet (d. 1824)
February 5 – Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)
February 10 – Johann Peter Pixis, German pianist, composer (d. 1874)
February 12 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist (d. 1869)
Arthur Schopenhauer
February 22 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
Joseph Eichendorff
March 10 – Joseph von Eichendorff, German poet (d. 1857)
April 2
Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet (d. 1862)
Wilhelmine Reichard, first German woman balloonist (d. 1848)
April 14 – David G. Burnet, President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1870)
April 18 – Charlotte Murchison, Scottish geologist (d. 1869)
Augustin-Jean Fresnel
May 10 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French engineer, physicist and inventor (d. 1827)
May 16 – Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages (d. 1866)
May 22 – William Grant Broughton, first Anglican bishop in Australia (d. 1853)
June 8 – Charles A. Wickliffe, American politician, 14th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1869)
June 21 – Princess Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg (d. 1851)
July 30 – Kisamor, Swedish natural healer (d. 1842)
August 2 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1853)
August 6 – Felix Slade, English lawyer, philanthropist and art collector (d. 1868)
August 7 – Francis R. Shunk, American politician (d. 1848)
August 16 – Luigi Ciacchi, Italian cardinal (d. 1865)
September 12 – Alexander Campbell, Irish-born founder of the Disciples of Christ (d. 1866)
September 15 – Gerard C. Brandon, American politician (d. 1850)
September 12 – Charlotte von Siebold, German gynecologist (d. 1859)
September 21
Geert Adriaans Boomgaard, Dutch citizen, first validated supercentenarian (d. 1899)
Margaret Taylor, First Lady of the United States (d. 1852)
September 22
Theodore Edward Hook, English author (d. 1841)
Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, Arab-French memoir writer and servant to Napoleon I (d. 1856)
September 28 – Jakob Walter, German stonemason, soldier (d. 1864)
October 9 – József Kossics, Hungarian-Slovene Catholic priest, writer, ethnologist (d. 1867)
October 11 – Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher (d. 1867)
October 24 – Sarah Josepha Hale, American author (d. 1879)
October 31 – David R. Porter, American politician (d. 1867)
November 8 – Mihály Bertalanits, Hungarian Slovene (Prekmurje Slovene) poet, teacher (d. 1853)
Date unknown
Facundo Quiroga, Argentine federationalist (d. 1835)
Ana Joaquina dos Santos e Silva, African businesswoman (d. 1859)
Deaths
January 14 – François Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasetilly, comte de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722)
January 31 – Charles Edward Stuart, claimant to the British throne (b. 1720)
February 17 – Maurice Quentin de La Tour, French portrait painter (b. 1704)
February 18 – John Whitehurst, English clockmaker, scientist (b. 1713)
February 21 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
February 28 – Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (b. 1725)
March 29 – Charles Wesley, English co-founder (with his brother, John Wesley) of the religious movement now known as Methodism (b. 1707)
March 31 – Catharina Elisabet Grubb, Finnish industrialist (b. 1721)
April 12 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-born composer (b. 1719)
April 15 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
April 16 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b. 1707)
May 8 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born physician, naturalist (b. 1723)
May 11 – Dorothea Biehl, Danish writer (b. 1731)
June 14 – Adam Gib, Scottish religious leader (b. 1714)
June 21 – Johann Georg Hamann, German philosopher (b. 1730)
July 3 – François Jacquier, French Franciscan mathematician, physicist (b. 1711)
July 30 – Kajetan Sołtyk, Polish Catholic priest (b. 1715)
Thomas Gainsborough
August 2 – Thomas Gainsborough, British painter (b. 1727)
August 8 – Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, French soldier, diplomat and statesman (b. 1696)
August 25 – Tanuma Okitsugu, Japanese government official (b. 1719)
August 28 – Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston-upon-Hull, English noble (b. 1721)
September 25 – Thomas Missing, English politician (b. 1710)
October 13 – Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, Irish politician, poet (b. 1709)
October 15 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian Admiral (b. 1736)
November 14 – Thomas Estcourt Cresswell, British politician (b. 1712)
November 20 – Samuel Martin (Secretary to the Treasury), British politician (b. 1714)
November 23 – Infante Gabriel of Spain (b. 1752)
December 6 – Jonathan Shipley, English bishop, politician (b. 1714)
Nicole-Reine Lepaute, French astronomer (b. 1723)
Charles III of Spain
December 14
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (b. 1714)
King Charles III of Spain (b. 1716)
December 19 – Juan Bautista de Anza, Governor of the Spanish Province of New Mexico (b. 1736)
December 22 – Percivall Pott, English surgeon (b. 1714)
December 30 – Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian painter, elected to the Venetian Academy (b. 1702)
date unknown – Lucia Galeazzi Galvani, Italian scientist (b. 1743)
References
Steinberg, S. H. (2017). Five Hundred Years of Printing. Courier Dover Publications. p. 14. ISBN 9780486814452.
Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909, ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p167
Morison, Samuel Eliot (May 22, 1944). "The Gilberts & Marshalls: A distinguished historian recalls the past of two recently captured Pacific groups". Life. pp. 91–101. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
Stratton, J. M. (1969). Agricultural Records. London: John Baker. ISBN 0-212-97022-4.
Anjalan liitto – Anjala-seura (in Finnish)
William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 (George Cochran Publishing, 1823) p653
Frank Fletcher Stephens, The Transitional Period, 1788–1789, in the Government of the United States (University of Missouri Press, 1909) pp17-18
Robert Huish, Memoirs of George the Fourth: Descriptive of the Most Interesting Scenes of His Private and Public Life, and the Important Events of His Memorable Reign (Thomas Kelly Publishers, 1830) p195
David Andress, The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2015)
"Robert Burns – Auld Lang Syne". BBC. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
Further reading
John Blair; J. Willoughby Rosse (1856). "1788". Blair's Chronological Tables. London: H.G. Bohn. hdl:2027/loc.ark:/13960/t6349vh5n – via Hathi Trust.
Categories: 1788Leap years in the Gregorian calendar