Citations:old lady

Old Lady of Threadneedle Street - The Bank of England

Bank of England Museum]

The Old Lady of Threadneedle St, being wooed by William Pitt The Younger, 1797

The nickname the "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street" first appeared in print as the caption "Political Ravishment or The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street in danger" to a cartoon published in 1797 by James Gillray. It depicts William Pitt the Younger, the Prime Minister of the day, pretending to woo the Bank, which is personified by an elderly lady wearing a dress of £1 notes seated on a chest of gold.