Science and the Criminal

by C. Ainsworth Mitchell

The ease with which the notes could be imitated, and the readiness with which they could be circulated, caused hundreds of people to take up the trade of forgery, until at length whole days were occupied at the Old Bailey with the endless trials and convictions.

Much indignation was expressed in the newspapers that the Bank had not issued notes which could not be imitated, and as a result of this outcry, a committee of scientific men was appointed to examine and report upon the best means of checking the evil.

Their report stated that they had examined many specimens of engraving, but none that had been submitted to them was proof against skilful imitation. Most of the forged notes had been clumsily imitated, and from this it appeared that the public were quite ready to be deceived by them.

It was commonly believed, though without foundation, that the Bank placed a private mark upon their notes by which they could subsequently be identified.

The general dissatisfaction with the behaviour of the Bank authorities was intensified by the amount of public money that was spent in the prosecution of the forgers, and the view was freely expressed that the Bank had no right to assume the office of prosecutor.

In the year 1818, for instance, there were 242 prosecutions, the cost of which was £34,357.

So pronounced became public opinion upon the subject that the Bank was forced to allow the culprits to plead guilty to a minor charge, the penalty for which was transportation instead of death.

This became almost a necessity, since there were frequently batches of twenty or thirty convicted forgers awaiting execution, though the death penalty was only exacted in a relatively small proportion of the cases.

During the seven years ending 1825 there were 78,918 males and 14,800 females tried on the charge of forging these notes. Of these prisoners, 17,874 were acquitted, while out of the remaining 75,844 sentence of death was passed upon 7,770, though not more than 579 of these were executed. Even this small proportion gave the terrible yearly average of eighty-three executions.

As it was at that time impossible to stop these wholesale forgeries the abolition of the issue of one pound notes, which took place in 1826, was obviously the only solution of the difficulty.