Description and research notes
This 1940 Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound issued note is part of the Northern Ireland Issue tradition of commercial-bank sterling notes. Dated Belfast, 1st January 1940, and bearing serial number A152102, the note represents the fully issued form of the Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound design, with completed date, serial numbering, officer signatures, and payable promise text.
The face design carries the strong private-bank identity of Ulster Bank Limited. The upper border names the bank in large Gothic lettering, while the lower border anchors the note in Belfast. The central vignette combines maritime and industrial imagery, with a sailing ship, dockside structure, cart, landscape elements, and tools of commerce. These details give the note a regional economic character, tying the bank’s obligation to trade, shipping, industry, and local commercial life.
The promise-to-pay text dominates the center of the note, presenting the banknote as the obligation of Ulster Bank Limited rather than a central-bank issue. The large blue ONE POUND panel, red serial numbers, ornamental denomination cartouches, and engraved borderwork create a layered design that remained close to the proof material of the same design family while functioning here as a completed issued note.
The reverse presents an architectural vignette framed by dense wavy-line security engraving and ornamental scrollwork. The contrast between the formal building scene on the back and the maritime-industrial vignette on the face gives the note both institutional weight and regional character. The security paper carries an Ulster Bank Limited watermark, visible when backlit, adding a second layer of bank identity beneath the printed design.
As a dated 1940 issued example, this note shows the Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound design in its completed circulation form, complementing the proof, uncut proof sheet, and watermarked security-paper material from the same collecting group. It stands as a finished private-bank sterling note from Northern Ireland, preserving the full issued structure of the design with serial number A152102, Belfast date, signatures, bank-name watermark, and engraved security printing.