Hi! My name's Ben Alsop, and I am the Money Gallery curator at the British Museum.
Now the object you're looking at here, you can be forgiven for thinking
at first glance it's a banknote. There appears some form of issuing authority,
there's symbolism of one kind or another there are words used like, bearer, value,
exchange, and there are three signatures of seemingly important people scrawled
on the right-hand side and a serial number of 2202. Most strikingly on the
back there is what I can only describe as some kind of trippy pattern. Similar
to a magic eye poster from the 1990s.
As an idea of size, this printed note is a
little smaller than a half a piece of A4 paper and was indeed intended and used
as a form of currency. Now what separates this, most darkly, from the traditional
banknotes issued in the UK in the 19th century, is not the presence of a number.
There's quite evidently the number one here. But it's what that number
represents this note does not represent pounds,
the currency of the United Kingdom,
instead it represents time. It represents one hour of labor and time in
this case is most certainly money. Now the note was issued in 1832 by the
Equitable Labor Exchange. A name you can see at the top of the note.
This particular exchange was in Gray's Inn Road which is actually not far from
where I am today in the British Museum.
Now it's the signatures tha're important at this point.
The signature of the man behind the endeavour can be seen
on the right hand side. It's kind of a tight angular script and it's the name
of Robert Owen. Now he's the person whose idea this money was. He was born in 1771
in new town in Wales. And he became important because he owned and managed
for a while a mill in Lanark where he tried to improve the quality of life for
his workers. He tried to reduce the working day by an hour from 11 and
three-quarter hours to 10 and 3/4 hours. Very good of him. He created the
Institute for the Formation of Character in 1816 which is actually a school for
the education of the children who worked at the mill. The aim of the note was
quite straightforward. Goods were produced by artisans and workers.
And they exchanged the note corresponding to the time it took them to produce the items.
So these notes were an attempt by Owen to ensure the worker received the
proper reward for their produce.
He felt that the traditional money that was in use in the UK at the time
had made man ignorant, individually selfish, blindly urged him forward
to create but deprived him of the wisdom to enjoy.
And his new system would therefore let prosperity loose on the country.
Now if we look at the imagery this of course relates to the central tenets of what Owen was trying to achieve.
You can see a beehive on the left. This idea of workers
contributing together to the success of the hive, to the success of the community
as a whole. And everyone benefiting from that work. You have scales on the right
hand side which represent justice. There are words such as industry and integrity
emblazoned on the notes to give you a sense of the fundamental politics
of Owen himself. And whilst it says the note is worth one hour, there is
actually a value given underneath. So the value of an hour is equal to six pence.
Now these notes could be used in the local area. They would be honored by
local tradesmen, several theaters, and a toll gate on Waterloo Bridge also accepted the money.
So they were a local currency of sorts.
First week deposits, when the National Equitable Labor Exchange
was introduced, was ten thousand pounds.
And within 17 weeks, deposits totaling over
four hundred and forty thousand work-hours were produced.
But therein lies the problem with the note itself.
There is an inherent problem and that is that it's possible to take longer to
make an inferior product. So if you're not particularly skilled you could get
more recompense for someone who is particularly skilled and does a job quicker.
And also the exchanges, who were taking in the goods, became overstocked.
Overstocked with goods that they just simply couldn't sell.
Equaitable Labor Exchanges only lasted a couple of years. And the note is interesting not
because of its failure but because it shows us, gives us an insight into a
political doctrine. Whilst ultimately not successful it's a fantastically
interesting example of how one person can try and completely change society
and fundamental to that change is the control and the reappraisal of money.
A through line through history which is absolutely fundamental to human society
and has been for thousands of years.
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