This brief letter advises of the receipt of a forged Bank of England £2 note.

The letter reads as follows.

To:                   W. Borthwick Esq., East Lothian Bank, Dunbar.

From:              H. D. Hamilton, Shakespeare Street, London.

Dated:              23rd March 1814.

Sir,

The enclosed has been brought me this morning.  It turns out that one of the Two Pound notes with which you had the goodness to favour me is found to be a forgery.  I paid it to a person of the name of Cooper who put my name on the back of it & the Bank of England to whom it was ultimately offered for payment then traced it to me, then kept the note giving me only the enclosed so that I have paid the £2 again to Cooper this morning.  The people of the Bank are extremely anxious that I should do what I can in tracing it and I therefore write to you & I shall be glad to hear from you on the subject & I shall be glad also to know whether the partners of your Bank are of the opinion that the loss of the £2 should fall upon themselves or me.

I remain Sir,

   Yours truly obliged,

      H D Hamilton

        As can be seen from the face of the item is marked London, March Twenty Three 1814 on the top of the face with the signature of H D Hamilton on the lower left of the face.  The item also has a red "Crown Free Circle" postmark.  My knowledge of postal markings is limited although I understand that from 1652 through to 1840  Government Officials and Members of Parliament were entitled to mark their postal items and to send them without the payment of postage.  This privilege was unfortunately subject to much by the way of abuse although in this case I believe this to be an appropriate use.  My reason in believing this is that the reverse of the letter is noted Sir Hew D Hamilton.

       Sir Hew D Hamilton was the fourth baronet, of North Berwick and Bargeny, born 3rd January 1774, was seven years in the guards and one in the dragoons.  He first represented the county of Haddington and afterwards Ayrshire in parliament.  He was also lieutenant-colonel of the Ayrshire militia.  He married at London 19th May 1800, the Hon. Jane Duncan, eldest daughter of Adam, first Viscount Duncan.  Sir Hew died 23rd February 1834.

       The reference to "giving me only the enclosed" relates to the following receipt from the INVESTIGATORS OFFICE and makes reference to the £2 note No. 35971 which was dated 27th August 1813.  It always amazes me that items like this receipt survive intact. This receipt adds so much more by the way of interest to the letter.  The fact the that receipt and the letter were together does suggest that the Bank did not present receipt as requested in the phrase"and bring this TICKET with you" and possibly paid out the £2 to Sir Hew D Hamilton without further advice the the Bank of England.

    The forgery of Bank of England Banknotes was not uncommon in the early 19th Century as the simple design of the Banknotes was such that imitation was relatively easy as can perhaps be seen from the following illustration of a £2 note of the time.

       W. Baird in "The One Pound Note" (1912) advises that in the year 1820 it appears that the number of forged £1 notes presented to the Bank of England was no less than 27,993, which with 217 £2 notes and 873 of £5 and upwards, made a total value of £33,602; while the total amount of forgeries for the ten years prior to that date was altogether about £200,949.

"William Borthwick" was the Cashier for the East Lothian Bank.  In 1822 he absconded from this position with his disappearance being the trigger for the failure of the bank.