The Royal Bank of Scotland £50 note is a sterling

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...

. It is the second largest denomination of banknote issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The current polymer note, first issued in 2021 bears an image of

Flora Stevenson Flora Clift Stevenson (30 October 1839 – 28 September 1905) was a British social reformer with a special interest in education for poor or neglected children, and in education for girls and equal university access for women. She was one of t ...

on the obverse and two

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

s, a mackerel and

lady's bedstraw ''Galium verum'' (lady's bedstraw or yellow bedstraw) is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Israel, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kamchatka. It is ...

on the reverse.

History

The Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Ba ...

began issuing £50 notes in 1727, the same year as the bank's founding. Early banknotes were monochrome, and printed on one side only. The issuing of banknotes by Scottish banks was regulated by the Banknote (Scotland) Act 1845 until it was superseded by the Banking Act 2009. Though strictly not

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...

in Scotland, Scottish banknotes are nevertheless legal currency and are generally accepted throughout the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Scottish banknotes are fully backed such that holders have the same level of protection as those holding genuine Bank of England notes. The £50 note is currently the second largest denomination of banknote issued by The Royal Bank of Scotland. The current Ilay series of banknotes was first issued in 1987, although it did not originally include the £50 note. The £50 note was added to the Ilay series in 2005, and these notes were the first £50 notes issued by the bank since 1727. These banknotes feature a portrait of Lord Ilay, first governor of the bank, on the front. Lord Ilay's image is also used as a watermark on the notes. Other design elements include the bank's coat of arms and logo, the facade of

Dundas House Dundas House is a Neoclassical building in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at 36 St Andrew Square, in the city's first New Town. The building was completed in 1774 as a private town house for Sir Lawrence Dundas by the architect Sir Will ...

, the bank's headquarters in Edinburgh, and a pattern representing the ceiling of the headquarters' banking hall. All of the Ilay series notes feature a castle on the back. On the reverse of the £50 note is an image of

Inverness Castle Inverness Castle ( gd, Caisteal Inbhir Nis) sits on a cliff overlooking the River Ness in Inverness, Scotland. A succession of castles have stood on this site since 1057, although the present structure dates from 1836. The present structure is ...

. On 18 August 2021, a new

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

£50 note was introduced to replace the paper notes, featuring

. Unlike the paper note, it is red instead of green.

Designs

Information taken from The Committee of Scottish Bankers website.

References

External links

The Committee of Scottish Bankers website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Bank of Scotland 50 note Banknotes of Scotland Fifty-base-unit banknotes Royal Bank of Scotland