Fox, Fowler and Company

Fox, Fowler, and Company was a British private bank, based in Wellington, Somerset.

The company was founded in 1787 as a supplementary business to the main activities of the Fox family, sheep-herding and wool-making.

Like many other commercial banks of the time, Fox, Fowler, and Company was legally entitled to issue its own banknotes.

However, when the Bank Charter Act was passed in 1844, no new banks could issue notes in England and Wales, and the number of note-issuing institutions fell gradually with financial sector consolidation.

This original £5 note is on display at Tone Dale House, which Thomas Fox built in 1801.