<P> A new design for ten - shilling notes was introduced in 1961 , with the old notes ceasing to be legal tender in 1962 . These new series C notes were slightly longer and narrower , and were the first ten - shilling notes to feature a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front . The reverse design incorporated the logo of the Bank of England . In the late 1960s it was decided that future banknotes should feature a British historical figure on the reverse . The first such note was the series D £ 20 note , first issued in 1970 , featuring William Shakespeare . A design for a ten - shilling note featuring Walter Raleigh on the reverse was approved in 1964 but was never issued . Instead , in 1969 , as part of the process of decimalisation , a new fifty pence coin was introduced as a replacement for the ten - shilling note . The principal reason for the change was economy : the notes had an average lifetime of about five months whereas coins could last at least fifty years . The series C ten shilling notes ceased to be legal tender on 22 November 1970 . </P>
when did 10 shilling note go out of circulation
22 November 1970