City of Finance

Exploring Edinburgh’s financial heritage, including coinage, the Royal Mint, banks and colonialism, the City of Finance theme takes a closer look at the city’s importance in the development of financial institutions. Its influence on global economics and the impact that the British Empire had on its urban development are also examined.

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Explore the City of Finance

Were coins minted in Edinburgh?

“The first Scottish coins were minted in Carlisle in the 1130s, but within 100 years there were 16 mints operating across Scotland. The first mint in Edinburgh was situated in the grounds of Holyrood Abbey, remaining there until 1559. It relocated to Edinburgh Castle between 1559 and 1574, before finally moving to a site close to modern day South Gray’s Close until 1707”. (GP)

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How did burghers borrow and store money before the advent of banks?

“Keeping your money secure was chiefly the responsibility of individual burghers, who would be reliant on kists, (chests) or other concealed or secure storage around the home. Many goldsmiths were involved in money lending and provided ad hoc banking services. Money and gold have always been intertwined – eg. the goldsmith James Mossman was also Assay Master for the Scottish Mint under Queen Mary I of Scotland”. (GP)

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Which bank was Scotland’s first bank and why was it created?

“Bank of Scotland was created by an act of the Scottish Parliament on 17 July 1695. It was created to provide financial stability for the Scottish people and economy, allowing Scots to safely store their money and procure loans. As a country historically short of metal to make coins, Scotland also benefitted from the introduction of bank notes by Bank of Scotland in 1696”. (GP)

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Where did the money come from to build the New Town?

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Who was John Gladstone?

“John Gladstone was born in Leith in 1764 and became one the largest slave owners in the British West Indies. A billionaires by today’s standards, he continued to have the largest number of enslaved people after the Trade was abolished. While he spent most of his life in Liverpool, he financed the construction of St Thomas’ Church, two free schools, a hospital and a garden in Leith before he died in 1851”. (IM)

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What was the Darian Scheme all about?

“The Darien Scheme was an attempt to set up a Scottish colony in the Isthmus of Panama, in an area called Darien. We did this because we weren’t permitted to trade with the English colonies, and setting up our own colony seemed a good way to generate wealth. The funding for the project was generated by investment from Scottish citizens. The Isthmus of Panama proved to be uninhabitable, resulting in the collapse of the scheme and financial ruin”.  (GP)

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What circumstances led to the creation of Scotland’s second bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland?

“After the Darian Scheme failed, the investors in the Company of Scotland were offered compensation as part of the conditions of the Treaty of Union. The Society of the Subscribed Equivalent Debt was established to protect this compensation, and over time the society ventured its interests directly towards banking. Bank of Scotland had a monopoly over banking for 21 years under the terms of its founding act, but once this was over it opened the way for a rival bank. The Royal Bank of Scotland was founded from the former Society of the Subscribed Equivalent Debt in 1727”. (GP)

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How was the Bank of Scotland initially financed?

“The finance for Bank of Scotland came from members of the public who invested their cash in the new bank. The 172 initial subscribers were known as ‘Adventurers’ and they raised 1.2 million Pounds Scots, or £100,000 Sterling. Subscription books were opened in Edinburgh and London for Adventurers to pledge their investment. The Adventurers paid in instalments. 30% of the capital was called up by August 1696 and was reduced to 10% in 1697”. (GP)

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How involved was Edinburgh in the Slave Trade?

“Custom House in Leith was a major part of the trade coming into Edinburgh, generating significant revenue from imported goods produced by enslaved people. The British Linen Bank in St Andrew Square was established to support the Scottish linen industry, a substantial proportion of whose products were exported to the Caribbean and North America to clothe enslaved people. Some of its managers also owned Caribbean plantations” (IM)

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What role has Edinburgh Castle had in the financial history of Edinburgh?

“Edinburgh Castle was for a time the site of the mint in Edinburgh, and during the Lang Siege revalued copper coins stamped with a countermark were used to pay for building projects like the Half Moon Battery within the Castle. In 1745 when Charles Edward Stewart’s Jacobite army arrived in Edinburgh, Bank of Scotland’s cash was moved to Edinburgh Castle to safeguard it from the rebels”. (GP)

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How did Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary end up running a plantation in Jamaica for nearly 150 years?

“The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh received donations from slaveholders such as Archibald Kerr in 1749, whose bequest included a Jamaican plantation and enslaved people”. (IM)

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What was the Slavery Compensation Act of 1837?

“Enslavers were compensated for their ‘property’ to the tune of £20 million. The formerly enslaved were forced into an unpaid apprenticeship programme that continued to 1838” (IM)

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