irishpapermoney.com

That's a nice find! It is the second example of this date that has turned up. A few of these have surfaced over the past decade or so.
I will add this one to the Northern Listing on the main web site.

Here is a £5 Northern Banking Company Ltd. proof note from 1892 with Belfast and Dublin as principal offices. Issued £5 notes of this type are known but rare. Reverse side printing was introduced for the £5 notes in 1908.

One example of a uniface Northern Banking Company Limited £10 note with principal offices Belfast and Dublin has been reported. The note from 1905 and signed by M. Edwards is attached. The first date for reverse side printing of these notes was 1st July 1910.

I remember this note coming up in auction around 20 years ago - Spink I think.

Yes, I believe it was at a Spink auction and no sign of another example turning up since then !

Duh, I see that I have it in the wrong place on the main website. Must move it...

No example of an issued uniface £20 note with principal offices Belfast and Dublin, has been reported to date. However, proof notes are known; an example from ca. 1888 is attached. Although the switchover date to reverse printing for £20 notes cannot be determined from issued notes, a reverse proof with the date, 7th May 1909, suggests that the first date for reverse printing is 1st June 1909.

The Northern Banking Company Limited issued a small number of uniface £50 notes with Belfast and Dublin as the principal offices and no other branches listed. No issued examples have been seen although proof notes exist in the bank’s archives.

In 1912, a new design for the £50 notes was adopted with printing on both sides and all branches listed. An insight into this design is provided by the £50 notes dated 5th August 1914, which were subsequently released with a Northern Ireland overprint after 1929. This is probably the earliest date on a note for use in Northern Ireland and the earliest £50 notes of the bank generally available to collectors.

The serial numbers on Northern Banking Company Limited notes changed from red to black colour in 1916. Hence, the next date for the £50 note, 25th April 1918, has black serial numbers. These multi-branch notes were issued in Northern Ireland with a ‘Northern Bank’ overprint in 1929 and subsequent years, but the original date was maintained.

Loads of these turned up in nice grade around the time of Decimalisation in 1970. One wonders where they had been hiding. The Northern and Belfast Banks were merged around the same time, and Midland Bank, the owners of both, decided to produce a new design of notes. All the old stuff poured into the branches, and some of it to the old note dealers of the day.

Mac, interesting to here that these overprinted notes emerged in reasonable quantity in 1970. It would appear that many resided within the banks for many years due to low issue rates.

The Northern Banking Company issued its first £100 in 1912. These notes were double sided with reverse printing. No issued examples are known to have survived but proof notes have been seen. Here are examples of obverse and reverse proofs from 1912. The design of the reverse proof is in black but the issued examples would have been blue in colour.

Can anyone help me identify the signature on this Northern Bank £10 note? Sold in Bloomfield Auctions yesterday - but not to me!

It never ceases to amaze me that a previously unknown signature can still turn up on an Irish note!
I have not come across it previously, and cannot make a reasonable guess either!
We will have to do a bit of research to see if we wan identify it.

That is a difficult signature to decipher. Further investigation will be required ! I wonder if the final part of the signature is P/S indicating that it is a proxy signature?

I would propose that the signature on the 1920 £10 note is that of Marcus B. Matthews who was Secretary of the Bank in the late 1920’s. His signature on the 1911 census form (attached) bears a reasonable similarity to that on the note.

I agree with that, a definite match I would say.

The census return provides some addition insights. His full name is Marcus Beresford Mathews and he is listed as a Bank Manager in Dublin but originally from Antrim. It is noteworthy that different information sources spell the surname in two different ways: Mathews and Matthews.

A notice from 1899 links Marcus B. Matthews to the managership of Ball’s branch of The Northern Bank in Henry Street, Dublin (attached). The Beresford name has a long association with Ball’s Bank and it is possible that Marcus B. Matthews was originally employed by Ball’s Bank, before the takeover by The Northern Banking Company Limited in 1888.

That connection with Ball's branch of the Northern is interesting indeed! Nice find.

Reference to some banking directories indicates that M.B. Mathews was the sub-Manager of the Northern Banking Company, Ball’s Branch, in 1897. This is the earliest record of him occupying a senior position in the bank.

An interesting aside is that the banking directory for 1890 lists W.H. Baskin as pro-Manager of Ball’s Branch. He later moved to Bank of Ireland where he had a distinguished career as Chief Cahier of the Bank from 1904-1919.

I wonder if the W H Baskin, pro Manager in Dublin in 1890, is the same man who became a signatory on Bank of Ireland notes from 1904 to 1918.