Nineteenth Century Banknote

There have been banknotes circulating in Scotland for over 300 years. This note was issued by the East Lothian Banking Company, which was started in 1810. It was one of many such small concerns formed all over Scotland in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Improvements in farming technology and methods lead to increased profits for East Lothian farmers and it was largely this capital gained from agriculture that was invested in the East Lothian Bank. The images of grain and hand tools on this note emphasise that connection. It also shows Dunbar Harbour and Lammer Island Battery.
Interestingly the East Lothian Banking Company failed in 1822 when Chief Cashier William Borthwick absconded with the bank's deposits. Shareholders, including many East Lothian landowners, merchants and farmers, suffered severely and it took twenty years to wind up the bank.