Irish Private Banks - Early Financial Instruments

[DOC]

Here are two interesting examples of bills of exchange related to Ireland. The first was drawn by the Galway private banker, Walter Joyce in 1806, and bears the crest and title of the bank.

The second example is a transaction between merchants and issued in 1800 in Cork. This example has an attractive vignette and reads:
24 months after date, pay to the order of George Drevar, one hundred and six pounds eleven shillings and eight pence value received.

The bill is drawn by Henry Sadleir (a Cork Merchant) on Barrington & Burton (Cork Merchants) in favour of George Drevar (Dublin Merchant). The period of credit is surprisingly long.

[Mac]

24 months was a very long time for a bill of exchange!

[DOC]

Here is a bill of exchange which is probably the earliest known surviving financial instrument with an Ireland association. The bill for £140 sterling was drawn in Dublin in 1664 at ten days sight by Thomas Willis in favour of Owen Fenton, an agent for Mary Countess Dowager of Thomond. It is drawn upon the London-based scrivener banking house of John Morris & Co, located in Cornhill, at The Flying Horse.

This bill suggests that the upper echelons of society in Ireland employed the services of banks in London and other European financial centers prior to the establishment of a banking system in the country.