The Great British Bank Note Debate: Elizabeth Fry is Out… But Jane Austen is in!

One of Mark Carney’s very first acts as he settles into his new role as Governor of the Bank of England has been to announce that the great novelist Jane Austen is to be the new face of the British £10 bank note.

Design for the New Note

This follows weeks of protest in the UK over the banishment of prison reformer and feminist icon Elizabeth Fry from the £5 note, in favour of a new design featuring Winston Churchill.  It was the previous Governor, Mervyn King, who announced this change, with the suggestion that the new fiver would probably become known as a ‘Winston’.  I have no idea why this should be the case, as the existing note is not referred to as a ‘Fry’ or a ‘Lizzie’: there is nothing wrong with 'fiver' in my humble opinion.

Churchill may have been one of the most inspirational and charismatic Prime Ministers ever, being eternally connected with the British bulldog spirit and indomitability in the face of the Nazi threat during World War II, but he was not loved by everybody.  Many Welsh citizens will be aware of his infamous spell as Home Secretary when he deployed troops to quash a miners’ strike in Wales in 1910,  and Indians will remember him for his resistance to Indian independence and his refusal to send food aid to Bengal in 1943, when more than a million peopled starved to death.

Above and beyond these objections to using Churchill’s image on the banknote, feminists were also not backward in coming forward, with strong resistance to the loss of one of the very few women ever featured on our currency. An on-line petition to correct this gender imbalance attracted massive publicity and gained over 35,000 signatures. A further media feeding frenzy was generated when Caroline Criado-Perez, the leader of the campaign, started receiving death threats and other violent messages on Twitter.

Knight-in-shining-armour Mark Carney then leapt to the rescue, showing off his feminist credential and proving himself to be a skilful diplomatist by inviting Miss Criado Perez to speak to Bank of England officials about the situation.  He then made the placatory offer to ‘replace’ Elizabeth Fry with the new Jane Austen note. Quite a smart move by Mr Carney, but perhaps not a surprise, as he is is married to a high-profile and outspoken woman (the economist Diana Fox-Carney) well-known for her controversial left-wing views on such issues as the Occupy Movement, the environment and income inequality.  The new Governor has also been quick to put in an appearance on the long-running Radio 4 program Woman’s Hour, where he was interviewed by Jenni Murray, and said that one day he would like to see a woman installed as Bank of England Governor.

The more cynical among us might say that the Jane Austen announcement was an easy way for him to establish his feminist credentials and grab some much-needed good publicity, as the Bank had in fact been making plans to introduce a Jane Austen bank note for some time.

‘Jane Austen certainly merits a place in the select group of historical figures to appear on our banknotes. Her novels have an enduring and universal appeal and she is recognised as one of the greatest writers in English literature," schmoozed. Mr Carney.

The announcement comes in the 200 year anniversary of the author’s most celebrated and best-loved novel, Pride and Prejudice.  To find out more, check out the website of the Jane Austen Project for 2013.
http://www.janeausten2013.org/jane2013.shtml

Miss Austen will join a select list of luminaries who have adorned Bank of England notes over the years:-

• Isaac Newton
• The Duke of Wellington
• George Stephenson
• Elizabeth Fry
• Florence Nightingale
• Charles Dickens
• Charles Darwin
• Michael Faraday
• Sir Edward Elgar
• Sir Christopher Wren
• Sir John Houblon
• Matthew Bolton and James Watt