A one pound note of the General Bank, Exeter

Perhaps the most interesting of all the Exeter bank notes this was issued by the General Bank between 1819 and 1822. The engraved scene at the centre of the note shows the treaty between the Quaker William Penn and a group of native Americans. It is derived from a painting by Benjamin West of 1772, which was frequently reproduced.The General Bank stood at this time in Cathedral Close beside St Petrock's church; it is one of the small banks which eventually came to form the modern Lloyds Bank.

Acknowledgments: RAM Museum