The one-cent banknote was the smallest denominated banknote issued in Hong Kong. They were issued by the government and were initially released on 30 May 1941 and printed by
Noronha and Company Limited
Noronha is a family name that is found among some aristocratic families in Portugal, and in areas such as Brazil, India, Mozambique, Angola and Macau that were colonized by the Portuguese.
The family has its origins in the marriage of Alfonso En ...
to provide small change because of a lack of coinage brought on by the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. The first issue was 42 by 75 mm, the obverse was brown with a serial number of seven numbers with either no prefix or an A or B prefix. This side was mostly in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, except for "Government of Hong Kong" which was also in Chinese. The reverse was red and the denomination in English and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
. After the Japanese take over of Hong Kong the issue was replaced by the
Japanese Military Yen
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
.
After the
surrender of Japan in 1945, the dollar was reestablished as the currency, a uniside brown note with a portrait of the
British monarch, and no serial numbers were ever found on the notes.
However, over the years of printing there have been five different signatures from five Government Financial Secretaries (namely Sir
Henry Butters, Sir
John Cowperthwaite, Sir
Philip Haddon-Cave
Sir Charles Philip Haddon-Cave, , (; 6 July 1925 – 27 September 1999) was a British colonial administrator. He was the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1971 to 1981 and the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong from 1981 to 1985. During his ten ...
, Sir
, Sir
Piers Jacobs
Sir Piers Jacobs (; 27 May 1933 – 23 September 1999) was Financial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1986 to 1991, a period that included the 1987 market crash, when he oversaw the closure of the stock exchange and notably refused to bail out the ...
and Sir
Hamish Macleod
Sir Nathaniel William Hamish Macleod () was a Scottish civil servant in Hong Kong. MacLeod was the last Financial Secretary of Hong Kong with British descent.
Early life
In 1940, Macleod was born in Midlothian, Scotland.
Career
Macleod w ...
) on the one-cent note. People can find their notes' year of issue on web pages littered around the Internet. These notes had five major issues: the first issued from 1941 bearing a portrait of
King George VI, then a total of five issues from 1961 to 1971, 1971–1981, 1981–1986, 1986-1992 and the final generation from 1992 until the demonetisation of the one-cent note on 30 September 1995. All had the picture of Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
on the front.
References
* Ma Tak Wo 2004, Illustrated Catalogue of Hong Kong Currency, Ma Tak Wo Numismatic Co., LTD Kowloon Hong Kong.
{{Authority control
Banknotes of Hong Kong