Bank of Scotland Formed

Previous posts have covered why Sir Walter Scott appears on the banknotes of the Bank of Scotland.  The Bank of Scotland itself was formed on July 17, 1695.  According to Andrew Kerr, in his "History of Banking in Scotland, 'It was in the midst of the experiences described in the last chapter [the Darien Expedition] that the earliest of Scottish banks came into existence, and passed the first few years of its career. On the 17th July 1695, three weeks after the incorporation of the African and Indian Company, the Scots Parliament passed an "Act for erecting a Publick Bank," which, together with six other Acts subsequently obtained, forms the constitution of the Bank of Scotland. The preamble recites how " Our Sovereign Lord, considering how useful a Publick Bank may be in this Kingdom, according to the custom of other Kingdoms and States; and that the same can only be best set forth and managed by Persons in Company with a Joynt Stock, sufficiently indued with these Powers, and Authorities, and Liberties, necessary and usual in such Cases; Hath therefore Allowed, and, with the Advice and Consent of the Estates of Parliament, Allows a Joynt Stock, amounting to the Sum of Twelve Hundred Thousand Pounds [Scots] Money, to be raised by the Company hereby Established for the Carrying and Managing of a Publick Bank. And further Statutes and Ordains, with Advice foresaid, That" certain persons named should have power to receive subscriptions from the 1st November to the 1st January succeeding, and that the subscribers "are hereby Declared to be One Body Corporat and Politick, by the Name of the Governour and Company of the Bank of Scotland."...'