A shipment of Californian gold arriving at the Bank in 1849
The Gold standard was established by the Bank of England in 1816. It set a standard weight of gold which was equivalent to one pound sterling. Other countries soon adopted the same standard and this enabled the direct comparison between currencies. Initially Banks were only allowed to issue a quantity of notes which was equivalent to the amount of gold they held in their vaults,
I am semi-retired after a career in medical sciences. I now work from home doing independent research and consultancy amongst other things. One advantage of this is that I do have time to indulge my interests including birdwatching, natural history, steam trains and history particularly ancient history.
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