AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 31 



A paper by H. S. Gill, Esq., on "Devonshire Tokens 

 issued in the 17th century," was read at the meeting of the 

 Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 Literature, and Art, in July, 1872. He says, "The local 

 tokens so universally circulated in this kingdom about tAvo 

 hundred years ago present to the student a very singular 

 episode in the history of our national currency. They were 

 introduced by private enterprise, without the consent of the 

 Government, to meet a pressing want of 'small change/ 

 which had existed for a long period. These tokens, chiefly 

 copper, but sometimes brass, began to appear in London 

 at the close of the reign of our ill-fated King Charles 1., 

 gradually spreading from place to place during the Inter- 

 regnum, and for twelve years after the Restoration, until 

 at length they were issued in nearly every city, town, and 

 important village, in England, Wales, and Ireland. * * * 

 More than ten thousand varieties of our local tokens are 

 known to have been coined; the earliest date to be found 

 on them is 1648, the latest 1672, in this country; and 

 although never legally sanctioned, yet for just that quarter 

 of a century they were allowed to circulate in their respective 

 localities, each coin passing for a farthing, half-penny, or 

 penny, according to the value set upon them by the persons 

 for whom they were struck ; and scarcely any other small 

 money being then obtainable, they supplied to the poorer 

 classes, while they lasted, almost the only means of obtaining 

 the cheaper necessaries of life; but in 1672, Charles II. 

 sent out a very stringent proclamation, forbidding the 

 further use of them throughout the kingdom, and declaring 

 that all offenders in that respect should be 'chastised with 

 exemplary severity.' " 



In the list of local tokens appended to Mr. Gill's 



