The heart of commercial operations was the Bill of Exchange (a written request or order to pay a certain sum of money without conditions) and the Promissory Note (a promise to pay), both of which rested on assumptions of others' creditworthiness.

From Davidoff & Hall, Family fortunes: Men and women of the English Middle Class, 1780-1850 (Routledge 1994).

Georgiana's father was only eleven when his own father died of alcoholism, leaving behind an estate worth £750,00 - roughly equivalent to £45 million today. It was one of the largest fortunes in England and included 100,000 acres in twenty-seven different counties, five substantial residences, and a sumptuous collection of plate, jewels and old master paintings. Lord Spencer had an income of £700 a week in an era when a gentleman could live off £300 a year.

From Amanda Foreman, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire.

A footnote adds: "The usual method for estimating equivalent twentieth-century values is to multiply by sixty."

Joseph Priestley when he came to the New Meeting in 1780 was offered a stipend of £100. This could not conceivably have covered the expenses of his comfortable middle-class establishment with costs augmented by his scientific work. Priestley was able to rely on his richer friends and relatives to support him.

From L Davidoff & C Hall, Family fortunes: Men and women of the English Middle Class, 1780-1850 (Routledge, 1994).

As from 1733, a candidate for the Bench needed to have an income from land of over £100 a year.. a squire needed to have £500 a year, at the very least.

From Virgin, The Church in an Age of Negligence: Ecclesiastical Structure and Problems of Church Reform, 1700-1840 (Cambridge 1989).

For as small a debt as £2 on the oath of a single creditor a small master or shopkeeper could be removed from his business and his family.

From Rule, Albion's People: English Society 1714-1815 (London 1992).

John Perry, an Ipswich draper, was twice declared bankrupt in the hard times of the 1820s and 1830s. He was supported by the powerful and wealthy members of his local Quaker congregation.

From John Rule, Albion's People: English Society 1714-1815.

Poor Davies, the bankrupt Bookseller, is soliciting his Friends to collect a small sum for the repurchase of part of his household stuff. Several of them give him five guineas. It would be an honour to him, to owe part of his relief to Mrs. Montague.

From letter of Samuel Johnson to Elizabeth Montagu, 5 March 1778.

I have myself subscribed £500 and have the satisfaction to find several persons who have offer'd upon this occasion their £50 and £100.

From letter of Thomas Pitt to Elizabeth Montagu concerning popular society figure Richard Berenger, March 1778.

When sufficient creditors, (the proportion varied from 3/4 to 4/5, by number and value), were satisfied and had signed a request for a Certificate of Conformity (a statement that the bankrupt had satisfied all the legal requirements), the Commissioners could issue the certificate which effectively discharged him, although dividends might continue to be paid after that date.

From PRO information leaflet L005, Bankrupts and Insolvent Debtors: 1710-1869.

Mr. Homfray if you take my advice don't give any note for you have been most egregiously cheated. The cards were marked.

Words attributed to John Richards, "a young gentleman of unimpeachable character", at a gaming session in Cardiff on Saturday 6th October, 1789.

The debts must have had a beginning, but they had no end. So far back as August 1784, the Prince admitted to a sum of £269,000, but the King was angered at the disclosure and the debts were allowed to accumulate. In 1787, after Fox had categorically denied that the Prince was privately married to Mrs Fitzherbert, Parliament voted £161,000 towards the payment of back debts, and £25,000 to the completion of Carlton House; but in April, 1795, when the Prince had consented to what was in reality a bigamous union with the Princess Caroline of Brunswick, Pitt stated in Parliament that the Prince owed a sum of £630,000.

From E.H. Coleridge, The Life of Thomas Coutts, Banker (London 1920).

He admitted that he had made the bulk of his fortune by transferring public money from the Bank of England to his own credit at Coutts', making such payments to annuitants and others as became due, and investing the unclaimed balances into the Exchequer and Navy Bills and other Government Securities, and, generally, by lending it at interest.

I made no secret of my financial transactions, which were known to ministers of state, and everybody whom it might concern, and when I was assailed in the press and denounced by the Managers of the Impeachment I received from such men as Sir George Rose, Sir Samuel Shepherd, and last but not least my relative, Thomas Coutts, the assurance of their unabated confidence and esteem.

From E.H. Coleridge, The Life of Thomas Coutts, Banker.

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