The Bank of Ireland reintroduced colour on its banknotes with Series E in 1864 with the listing of all of the bank's branches in red on its notes, as well as the date and serial numbers. Colour had previously briefly been used to a small degree in the 1790s. The new Series E multibranch banknotes continue the iconic design of a row of mercury heads and twin statues of Hibernia that the bank introduced in 1838.
Large sized banknotes. Uniface. All denominations are of a similar size. Head Office DUBLIN.
Watermark: bank’s name in a curve with a year of manufacture inside the curve.
Banknotes printed on watermarked paper. All branches of the bank listed in red several lines on each banknote. The number of branches listed increases as time goes on. There are several known signature varieties, and at least one further unknown signature.
There are four Types by major design variation for Series E banknotes, which divide into several variations by signature. Relatively little is known about Series E notes prior to Type D (1908) as the notes are quite scarce. It is likely that several other as yet unrecorded signatures exist on notes of Types A to C.
Type A1. Signature Craig. 36 branches in 3 Lines.
Denominations recorded: £1. One single note known, plus one half note, and one contemporary forgery.
The number of branches increases from 40 to 58.
Type B1. Signature Craig on £1 notes.
Type B2. Unknown signature on £5 note dated 10 Mar 1874.
Type B. Signature Greville on £500 notes.
Denominations recorded: £1, £5, £500.
Prefixing system changed from Letter over Letter to Letter over Number. Several signature varieties.
Type CC. 1881-1890. Signature Craig. 58 branches in 4 Lines. Sans-serif script. Denominations recorded: £1.
Type CH. 1887. Signature Heney. 58 branches in 4 Lines. Sans-serif script. Denominations recorded: £10.
Type CF. 1887-1890. Signature Foot. 58 branches in 4 Lines. Sans-serif script. Denominations recorded: £5.
Type CV. 1891-1896. Signature Verecker. 58 branches in 4 Lines. Sans-serif script. Denominations recorded: £1, £5, £10.
Type CE. 1899-1903. Signature Evans. 58 branches in 4 Lines. Sans-serif script. Denominations recorded: £1, £10, (£100 and £500 printing plates seen).
Type CB. 1904-1907. Signature Baskin. 58 branches in 4 Lines. Sans-serif script. Denominations recorded: £1, £5, £10.
Signature Baskin.
a. 1908-1914. 65 Branches, including Dunmanway. Denominations recorded: £1, £3, £5, £10, £50.
b. 1914. 64 branches, Dunmanway removed. Denominations recorded: £1.
c. 1914-1917. 65 branches, Trim added. Denominations recorded: £1, £5, £10, £20.
d. 1917-1918. 66 branches, Newtownards added. Denominations recorded: £1, £5, £10, £20.
Type A
Type B
Type C
Type D
Observation of printing plates in the bank's archives reveals that all Bank of Ireland multibranch notes were printed 2 up on a plate with a large watermark in the centre of each note. Plate letters indicated the position of the notes on the plate. From observation, left side notes had odd plate numbers, and right side notes had even plate numbers.
Detail of the water mark on a 1914 One Pound note shows the text 'Bank of Ireland' in an oval at the centre of the note. There is often a number visible in the centre of the watermark. Sometimes this is a year, presumed to be the year of manufacture of the paper.
Bank of Ireland, One Pound, 1914, watermarks
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