© Roy Davies & Glyn Davies, 1996 & 1999.
Based on the book: A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day by Glyn Davies, rev. ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1996. 716p. ISBN 0 7083 1351 5. (Page numbers in the 3rd edition published in 2002 may be slightly different).
1850-1914 | Huge amounts of capital are exported from Britain |
---|---|
Huge amounts of British capital are invested abroad, especially after 1890, in
the United States, parts of the British Empire, and Argentina. The total
reaches billions of pounds. Britain's later economic problems may be partly due
to the neglect of British industry by the banks during this period.
p 348-352 |
|
1860-1921 | Number of banks in the US increases by over 19 times |
During the same period bank numbers fall in other advanced countries but in the
US a peak of nearly 30,000 is reached in 1921.
p 490-491 |
|
1865-1926 | The Latin Monetary Union |
This comprises France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and later Greece. The gold
and silver coins of each country are legal tender throughout the union. The
union has faded away by the 1920s before its formal ending.
p 443,492-493,557 |
|
1870-1893 | Plentiful silver supplies cause fall in value of Indian and other Asian currencies |
After 1870 there is a vast increase in the amount of silver coming on to world
markets because of new mines and the demonetization of silver as Germany,
Scandinavia and other countries switch to the gold standard. As a result the
undebased silver coinage of India, and the currencies of China, Japan and south
east Asia, countries comprising half the world's population, suffer an
unprecedented fall in value.
p 622 |
|
1873-1924 | The Scandinavian Monetary Union |
Denmark, Sweden and Norway form a monetary union similar to the Latin one but
with gold as the standard for their currency.
p 356,443 |
|
1873-1886 | The Great Depression in Britain |
The British economy is in decline relative to that of the US and Germany. One
effect of the Depression is to cause doubts about the merits of the gold
standard.
p 353,493 |
|
1880 | Mitsubishi and Yasuda Banks founded in Tokyo |
These are both Zaibatsu banks based on existing family trading empires. By 1912
the Yasuda Bank has absorbed 17 other banks.
p 583 |
|
1880 | Yokohama Specie Bank founded |
This is the first of a number of special banks established to assist the growth
of the Japanese export trade.
p 583-584 |
|
1881 | Postal Orders are introduced in Britain |
These are an immediate success and although they are introduced instead of Post
Office notes which would have competed with commercial banknotes, the postal
orders are nevertheless used as currency in some areas for the next 10 years
and are made legal tender after the outbreak of the First World War.
p 338 |
|
1882 | Bank of Japan founded |
After a careful study of European central banks - the Americans do not have one
at this time - the Japanese decide that the National Bank of Belgium is
peerless and it is chosen as a model for Japan's national bank.
p 582 |
|
1883 | Austria establishes the world's first postal giro system |
Subsequently this example is widely followed in other European countries and
Japan. For a more detailed account of the history of giro systems see
Davies, Glyn. National Giro : modern money transfer/ foreword by James
Callaghan. London : Allen and Unwin, 1973. 246p ISBN 0 04 332054 6
p 584 |
|
1886 | Gold and Silver Commission considers replacing Britain's gold standard |
The Commission is asked to advise the government how best to overcome the fall
in prices caused by the Great Depression. Two famous economists, Alfred
Marshall and F.Y. Edgeworth, recommend symmetallism where the legal
standard would consist of a fixed weight of both gold and silver but nothing
comes of this suggestion.
p 493 |
|
1890 | First Barings crisis |
Barings have become heavily involved in financing British investment in South
America, especially Argentina. After the failure of one deal and a revolution
in Argentina, Barings is within 24 hours of bankruptcy when it is saved by
support from the Bank of England and all the main City of London banks.
p 346 |
|
1890 | China issues silver coins |
Up to this time China has rarely used precious metal coins, its normal coins
being base metal cash of a design unchanged since ancient times.
p 56 |
|
1890 | US Sherman Act |
This obliges the Treasury to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver each month.
p 495 |
|
1890 | Cheques account for 90% by value of financial transactions in the US |
The supply of the main source of money in the US is not subject to uniform
rules but to the regulations of the different state and federal authorities
responsible for banks.
p 489-490 |
|
1891-1901 | Number of Japanese savings banks increases twentyfold |
By 1901 the total is 441. Up from a score ten years earlier.
p 583 |
|
1892 | Liberator Building Society fails in Britain |
The Liberator had become involved in speculative deals, lending money secured
only by second or third mortgages. It is brought down by the failure of the
London and General Bank and in turn the Liberator brings down a number of other
building societies.
p 329-330 |
|
1893 | Bank panic in the US |
A bank panic, similar to the one 20 years earlier, breaks out. Bank clearing
houses use clearing house certificates for settling inter-indebtedness,
leaving the precious notes and gold available for their fearful personal
customers.
p 499 |
|
1893 | US silver purchase laws cancelled |
The abundance of silver on the world market enables gold to be purchased in the
US at favourable rates, leading to a gold drain. Fearing that supplies of gold
will be insufficient to back note circulation President Cleveland cancels the
silver purchase laws.
p 495 |
|
1893 | Herschell Report on India's silver currency |
In accordance with the recommendations of the committee set up because of the
fall in the value of the Indian rupee, the British authorities close Indian
mints to the free coinage of silver. The resulting reduction in the circulation
of rupees raises their exchange value and it is stabilized at 15 rupees to the
gold sovereign, preparing the way for a move towards the gold standard.
p 622-623 |
|
1894-1895 | Sino-Japanese War |
By the conclusion of the war Japan has acquired sufficient gold reserves to
make possible the replacement of its traditional silver standard by the gold
standard two years later.
p 582 |
|
1894 | Building Societies Act |
This act is the outcome of a parliamentary inquiry into the fall of the
Liberator. It forbids advances on second or subsequent mortgages, increases the
powers of the Chief Registrar of Building Societies, and prevents new societies
from allocating mortgages by ballot.
p 330 |
|
1894 | Bank of British West Africa founded |
The first bank to be created in Britain's west African colonies starts
operations in Lagos. Branches are also opened in Accra, Gold Coast (Ghana) in
1896 and Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1898.
p 601 |
|
1894 | British dollars minted for colonies in the Far East |
Most of the British dollars are minted in Bombay.
p 626 |
|
1895 | Sumitomo Bank founded in Osaka |
This Japanese bank is founded by an existing Zaibatsu trading organization.
p 585 |
|
1896 | Hypothec Banking Act in Japan |
This provides umbrella legislation under which a number of industrial and
agricultural banks are set up.
p 584 |
|
1896 | William Jennings Bryan runs for the US Presidency |
Bryan is a very vigorous supporter of bimetallism and opponent of the gold
standard but he loses the election to the Republican candidate William
McKinley.
p 496 |
|
1897 | Japan officially adopts the gold standard |
Following the successful conclusion of the Sino-Japanese War two years earlier
Japan has accumulated sufficient gold reserves to make the transition from the
silver to the gold standard.
p 582 |
|
1897 | Hypothec Bank of Japan founded |
This is the first bank to be established under the Hypothec Law of the previous
year. The bank provides farmers and entrepreneurs with long-term loans.
p 584 |
|
1898 | Fowler Report on Indian Currency |
The reduction in the circulation of rupees after 1893 and the high rates of
interest needed to maintain its value have led to complaints that trade is
being strangled. The Fowler Committee recommends renewed issues of gold
sovereigns and half sovereigns as part of the move towards the gold standard.
p 623 |
|
1899 | Bank of Japan completes replacement of other banks' note issues |
The Bank of Japan's notes are fully convertible into gold. All other notes
cease to be legal tender.
p 582 |
|
1899 | Hokkaido Colonial Bank founded |
It is established to strengthen the economy of the northern Japanese province
of Hokkaido.
p 584 |
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