Bank Restriction Act
- When
- 1797
- Where
- Parliament of Great Britain; Regional bank-run towns and the Fishguard invasion, outside allowed_places
- Episodes
- 3
The Bank Restriction Act 1797, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, removed the requirement for the Bank of England to convert banknotes into gold. Prompted by regional bank runs and a French invasion, it opened the Restriction period, and was subsequently amended and continued by further acts in 1797.
Episodes
- Passage of the Bank Restriction Act 1797
Parliament passed the Bank Restriction Act 1797, removing the Bank of England's requirement to convert banknotes into gold.
- Amendment and Continuation in 1797
Two 1797 acts amended and continued the Bank Restriction Act, first to the next parliamentary session, then to the war's end.
- Causes: Regional Bank Runs and the Fishguard Invasion
Runs on banks in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, and Durham, and a French invasion of Britain, shaped the act's timing.
Background and detail
Background. Before the act's passage, the Bank of England was obliged to convert its banknotes into gold. The measure had been under consideration for a few months because of runs on banks in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, and Durham, which had in turn requested monetary support from the Bank of England.
Passage and Provisions. The Bank Restriction Act 1797 (37 Geo. 3. c. 45) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain. It removed the requirement for the Bank of England to convert banknotes into gold, and the period between the relevant dates became known as the Restriction period.
Continuation and Amendment. The act was amended and continued until the end of one month after the start of the next session of parliament by the Restrictions on Cash Payments Act 1797 (37 Geo. 3. c. 91). It was further amended and continued until one month after the conclusion of the present war by definitive treaty by the Restriction on Cash Payments (No. 2) Act 1797 (38 Geo. 3. c. 1).
People involved
- Parliament of Great Britain · legislature that enacted the Bank Restriction Act 1797
- Bank of England · institution whose obligation to convert banknotes into gold was removed by the act
Sources
- Bank Restriction Act 1797 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.