AS TWELVE rare Tamworth banknotes go under the hammer in London today, an Amington woman has revealed that she too has one of the notes.Mrs Henri Bennett (71) of St George's Way, Glascote, was given the note by an elderly relative who used to live in Tamworth.

She said: "I was really interested to read the Herald story about the Tamworth bank notes being auctioned because I have one - and I was wondering if anyone else in Tamworth also does."

Henri's note is a one pound from the bank of Harding, Oakes and Willington. Dated 23 May 1817, the note was given to her by her 81-year-old cousin Jean Breiley who now lives in Devon.

In the late 1700s and in the 1800s, there were hundreds of privately-owned banks throughout England and they all issued their own notes, as it was safer and easier to do that than bring in big quantities of cash from London.

Tamworth had two privately-owned banks in the late 1700s and early 1800s and both went bust.

Tamworth Bank was founded in 1796, during the reign of King George III, by local businessmen Thomas Bradley Paget and Michael Corgan.Their bank went bust in 1817.

Tamworth Old Bank was also founded in 1796 and its partners were Samuel Tufley, Harding, Charles Oakes and Thomas Willington. Their bank went bust in 1819.Because both Tamworth banks were short-lived, they produced comparatively few notes, so they are quite rare.

Tamworth Castle has confirmed it has four Tamworth banknotes which are kept in its archive because of their fragility.

To read the complete article, see:Tamworth woman has rare town banknote(www.thisistamworth.co.uk/Tamworth-woman-rare-town-banknote/story-18730359-detail/story.html#axzz2QxkmsB1s)