New Plastic £10 Note Featuring Jane Austen Hits Wallets Today
The brand-new plastic £10 note starring none other than Jane Austen is launching this Thursday. That means the old paper tens, featuring Charles Darwin, are about to become history.
Jane Austen Replaces Charles Darwin on the Tenner
Austen knocks Darwin off the note, becoming the only woman now featured on an English banknote since the paper £5 with Elizabeth Fry was retired. The new polymer note is a game-changer—it’s the first UK banknote with tactile features to help blind and partially sighted people.
Old Darwin £10 notes will stop being legal tender sometime next year, so it’s time to swap them out. The Bank of England has already printed a whopping one billion of these sleek new ten pounders made from tough polymer film. They last around five years, compared to just two years for the old paper notes, and are harder to fake. But like the plastic fivers, these £10 notes aren’t vegan-friendly.
Celebrating 200 Years Since Austen’s Death
This new note celebrates the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death. The beloved author, best known for classics like Pride and Prejudice and Emma, was laid to rest in Winchester Cathedral in 1817. Austen penned much of her work in the quaint Hampshire village of Chawton.
Her personal letters reveal she spent a fair amount of time in portsmouth/" title="Portsmouth" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked">Portsmouth, where both her brothers trained as naval officers. Her novel Mansfield Park even focuses on Portsmouth, depicted as a small naval town with a rough reputation back in the early 1800s.
“The men appeared to her all coarse, the women all pert, everybody under-bred,” Austen wrote of Portsmouth in Mansfield Park. But she also described a softer side:
“The day was uncommonly lovely… every thing looked so beautiful under the influence of such a sky… produced altogether such a combination of charms for Fanny…”
Iconic Quote and Literary Legacy on the Note
Austen received a £10 publisher’s advance for her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, in 1811. The new note proudly carries her famous line from Pride and Prejudice: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”
Get ready to see Jane Austen in your change—and keep an eye out for the stylish, sturdy new tenner in your pocket from Thursday onwards.
