when did the ten shilling note go out of circulation
Bank of England 10s note 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.[1] 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.[3] 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.[4] The series C ten shilling notes ceased to be legal tender on 22 November 1970.[1] In the Isle of Man, both the English and Manx Ten Shilling Notes continued to be legal tender for fifty new pence until 2013.[5]