5 — Five Pounds
The artwork
Front: Queen Elizabeth II in tiara and pearls, engraved three-quarter face, filling the right half. Left of her the copperplate "Bank of England" flourish and the promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of Five Pounds, with the serial LH51 911526 in ascending green-to-red print. Below, the signature of Chris Salmon as Chief Cashier, a foil patch, a Greek-key maze panel and the turquoise E II R roundel.
Back: Elizabeth Fry, bonneted and calm, at the right, with her signature and the dates 1780–1845 beneath. To the left, the vignette of her reading to women prisoners and their children in Newgate gaol — a crowded room under a barred window, sunlight falling across the brick. Behind her a fan of fine red guilloche lines, and the dashed metallic thread running down the note.
In circulation
Issued 21 May 2002 as the last paper £5, and the first Bank of England note to carry Elizabeth Fry. Superseded by the polymer Churchill £5 from September 2016; the Fry note ceased to be legal tender on 5 May 2017, though the Bank still exchanges it at face value.
Details
- CurrencyPound
- DenominationFive Pounds
- Collectedon the United Kingdom journeys, 1991–2016
- IssuerBank of England
- SeriesSeries E (revised) — the Elizabeth Fry £5
- SignatureChris Salmon, Chief Cashier
- SecurityEmbedded metallic thread, visible as a dashed line on the reverse; foil patch and microlettered "FIVE POUNDS" on the face
- Dimensions135 × 70 mm