Canadian Banknotes for the British West Indies, 1900-1950

Abstract

Between 1900 and 1950, five of Canada’s domestic banks issued bank notes for circulation in the British West Indies. This article is about these Canadian banknotes. It starts with some background on the Canadian participation in the BWI bank sector and the circumstances that led to the issuance of the first Canadian banknotes. We then provide a description of the twelve different series of Canadian banknotes that circulated in the BWI with, where possible, some information on the size of those issues. We also consider aspects of the rivalry between the Canadian banks and the incumbent Colonial Bank (established in the region in 1836) as banknote issuers and the role the colonial authorities played in managing the relationship between them. The article concludes with a description of the events that led to the withdrawal of the notes of commercial banks in 1950 and their replacement with government issues.