2019-01-08 Tue

The Bank of England had recently announced that a scientist will be featured on the next £50 note. There have been differences of opinion among various groups regarding this decision. Some want endangered animals to be featured on the new notes while others want the banknotes to show images of people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

A popular online lender in the UK named Quick Quid believes that endangered animals should be shown on new banknotes. They want to celebrate animals that will get extinct in UK soon instead of honouring great humans who already lost their lives.

Quick Quid and NeoMam Studios have collaborated to come up with note designs featuring eight different endangered species from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The proposed £5 note design depicts a red squirrel, the £10 note design sample depicts a turtle dove, and a loggerhead turtle is depicted on the recommended £20 note design and a pine marten is featured on the proposed £50 note design.

People from ethnic minority backgrounds make up for only 14 per cent of the total population in UK. Over 200 Britons including MPs want a personality from these ethnic groups to be featured on the £50 note. They believe that the achievements of people from ethnic groups are far better, considering the fact that they had to face the consequences of colonial rules, racism or slavery.

Several names have been suggested like the Crimean War nurse Mary Seacole from Jamaica. Noor Inayat Khan is another contender. She was a Muslim Indian princess and British agent who was executed at Dachau concentration camp. Olaudah Equiano (1745 to 1797) was a Nigerian writer and abolitionist who spent his childhood in slavery in the Caribbean and Virginia. He fought for his freedom to eventually become a leader of the abolitionist movement. Suffragist Sophie Duleep Singh was the Sikh Empire’s last maharaja’s daughter, who sacrificed the luxuries of life to fight for her cause.

227,229 nominations were submitted by the public until the deadline, 12th December, out of which, 991 personalities fulfil the bank’s criteria. The final note design would be released in mid-2019.

Image Courtesy: Quick Quid