March 19, 2026

The Birmingham Letters for the Silver 1813 Tokens

1813 Eighteen Pence Token
(click on image to enlarge)
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Before the Royal Mint struck the 1813 tokens, the States of Jersey requested that the Soho Mint make their coinage. It is interesting to note that three different denomiations of tokens were requested: Since the Privy Council warned that the making of these tokens by a private mint might by punishable by law, Matthew Boulton declined to make them. Eventually, the Royal Mint struck only the eighteen pence and three shillings tokens.
This letter from the Council Office (signed by Chetwynd) is advising Sidmouth — as Home Secretary — on the currency crisis in Guernsey and Jersey, recommending that silver tokens be coined at the Royal Mint and that the legality of inflating coin values above their legal rate be investigated by the King's Law Officers.

[Page 1]
Council Office
18th November 1812

Sir,
The Lords of His Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, having had under consideration the copy of a letter from Lt. General Don, transmitted in your letter of the 5th instant, stating that in consequence of some mercantile persons in Guernsey having entered into a Resolution to receive the different Coins now in circulation at an increased value, a considerable quantity of specie has been already exported to that Island from Jersey and a great deal has been hoarded up, for the purpose of being conveyed thither, the first favorable opportunity. Their Lordships, having likewise taken into consideration the act passed by the States of Jersey,

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(transmitted also in your said letter) for the issuing a local Coin, I have it in command to acquaint you for the information of Lord Sidmouth that the Lords of the Council conceive that an association to receive the Coins of a Country at a higher value than that put upon them by Law, is highly reprehensible and therefore think it may be advisable that the opinion of His Majesty's Law Officers should be taken whether such conduct is not punishable by Law. It does not appear to their Lordships objectionable to allow the States of Guernsey or Jersey to issue Silver Tokens for the use of their respective States, on condition that such Tokens shall be coined at the Royal Mint here, of silver provided by the said States and that the States who issue such Tokens shall covenant by a law to be passed for that purpose, to receive

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them back, whenever it may become necessary, at a rate not less than that at which they shall have been respectively issued. I am however to observe that the States ought to be aware of the hazard of Counterfeits which must necessarily attend the issue of Tokens much above their real value and that therefore it will be incumbent on them to watch over their circulation lest the introduction of counterfeits should destroy confidence in the Tokens issued under their authority.

I am …
Signed /
Chetwynd
________________________________________
[Notes]:
  • Lord Sidmouth — referenced in this letter as the recipient of the Privy Council's advice — was Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1757–1844), one of the most prominent British statesmen of the era. Here is his context in 1812:
  • Who He Was: Henry Addington had previously served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from March 1801 to May 1804, and was created Viscount Sidmouth in January 1805.
  • His Role in November 1812: He returned to government as Lord President of the Council in March 1812, and in June of the same year became Home Secretary. Tripod So at the exact time this letter was written, he had very recently assumed the office of Home Secretary — which explains why the Council Office was reporting to him on the currency situation in the Channel Islands.
  • The Government He Served: Lord Liverpool succeeded the assassinated Spencer Perceval as Prime Minister, and offered Sidmouth the post of Home Secretary in his new government.

In the following letter the proposed denominations were 3 shillings, 18 pence, and 1 shilling tokens.

[Page 1]
Jersey
17th December 1812

Sir,
Your letter on the subject of a proposed coinage of Silver tokens, addressed to Sir John Dumaresq, has been laid before the Committee of the States, appointed to manage this business; & I am now directed by the Committee to send you the enclosed Copy of a letter from Lord Chetwynd, stating that it does not appear objectionable to the Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council to allow the States of this Island to issue Silver tokens. As the Gentlemen composing the Committee are unacquainted with the particular mode of executing a coinage of this nature, under the authority of the Officers of the Royal Mint, they are uncertain whether they can avail themselves of your assistance. It is desired that you would undertake to transact the whole of the business, if the restriction in the Order of Council does not prevent such an arrangement. The Committee having determined, in the first instance, to issue tokens to the amount of

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£10,000 only, you will be desired to purchase an adequate supply of Bullion in Dollars, to be coined into pieces of three sizes, & in the following proportions viz:
£4,000 in pieces to be issued at 3 shillings
£4,000 in pieces to be issued at 1 shilling 6 pence
£2,000 in pieces to be issued at 1 shilling
We are not prepared to particularize the precise and relative weights of each of these denominations of coin, but we presume that it will be sufficient to state that we wish the difference between the real and the nominal value of our tokens to be such as to defray all the expenses attending the operation (including interest during the process, commission and insurance) and to yield a further reserve of three per Cent, to cover all other contingencies. It is intended to adopt the general style of the 3 Sht. Bank tokens for the several sizes of our coinage, with these necessary alterations; — the Arms of the Island, of which I have enclosed a sketch, to be substituted for the King's Head, on the front of the piece, & the legend

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to be altered to the “States of Jersey”; and on the reverse the inscription to be “Jersey token”. I am further directed to request that, if it suits your convenience to undertake this business, you will have the goodness to state to me, for the information of the Committee, what will be the amount of your charge, including every expense to the period when the coin will be forwarded in packages for embarkation, insured against every risk. —

I am, Sir
Your Obedient and humble servant,
Francis Godfray, Greffier
________________________________________
[Notes]:
  • Francis Godfray signs as Greffier (the Greffier being the official clerk/secretary of the States of Jersey).
  • The letter is addressed to M. R. Boulton Esqr. — almost certainly Matthew Robinson Boulton, son of the famous Matthew Boulton of the Boulton & Watt firm.
  • The proposed denominations were 3 shillings, 1s. 6d., and 1 shilling tokens.

This is a draft letter of a file note from Boulton.

[Page 1]
To Mr. Godfrey Greffier Esqr.
7th January, 1813

On the Application of the States of Jersey for a Coinage of Silver Tokens.

The Copy of Lord Chetwynd's letter, accompanying &c. for this, seems to hold it out as the opinion of the Privy Council for Coins, that none should be struck & considered as legal currency, or circulated by the Officers of the Tower Mint — this opinion of course prevents my undertaking in the same but altering —
________________________________________
[Notes]:
  • This is a docket or file note, summarizing and referencing the correspondence already seen in the previous letters.
  • It appears to be a draft reply or internal memo from M. R. Boulton back to Godfrey, explaining a potential obstacle — namely that Lord Chetwynd's letter implies the Privy Council's position restricts the Tower Mint (Royal Mint) from striking tokens to be considered legal currency.
  • The note trails off, suggesting it is an unfinished draft or the remainder is on another page.

This information about the Birmingham letters is made possible by Phil Warrington, a fellow numismatist and my friend of many years. Phil went to the trouble going to the Birmingham libaray and making digital copies of these letters. These images can be viewed at:
These documents are held at Birmingham Archives & Heritage, Birmingham Central Library (GB 143 BA&H). All references to MS documents come from there.
1.  MS 3782/13/11/89 Letter. Francis Godfray Greffier (Jersey) to Matthew Robinson Boulton (-).
2.  MS 3782/13/11/157 Copy letter. Matthew Robinson Boulton (Soho) to Francis Godfray Greffier (-).


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