1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: This is an I heart original in William Chaloner, now 2 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: the best counterfeiter in London, living in a fine house 3 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: in suburban Knightsbridge, wearing the clothes of a gentleman, inserted 4 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: himself into the debate around the coins. This was less 5 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: than two years before Parliament passed three Coinage Act and 6 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: Challenger's name appeared on a pamphlet entitled Proposals Humbly offered 7 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: for an Act to prevent clipping and counterfeiting money. Everybody's 8 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:53,599 Speaker 1: always so humble mm hmm. Now England hath been more 9 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: grieved with clipped and counterfeit money than any other country, 10 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: for want of proper laws to prevent the same, and 11 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: by the abuse of the mintors of our money, who 12 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: have made the coin with so little art and ingenuity, 13 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: that any may clip or counterfeit money without much difficulty, 14 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: that it may be presumed the old money in this 15 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: kingdom is now worth two thirds of the intrinsic value. 16 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: But if there be not a stop put to clipping 17 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: of money, it will in a few years be so 18 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: diminished and counterfeited that it will not be worth half 19 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: the value it was coined for. Challoner was some forty 20 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: years later sounding a lot like Monsieur Blonde, And of 21 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: course he wasn't wrong about the coins, because not much 22 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: had changed since the sixteen fifties, despite the introduction of 23 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: the machines. Remember, the Treasury never recalled all the old coins. Now, 24 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: we know that Challoner was more qualified and most to 25 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: talk about clipping and counterfeiting, But why would he start 26 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: offering tips on how to put himself out of business? 27 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: Was chunder going legit using his ill gotten knowledge for 28 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: the betterment of the kingdom. Not quite. This was something 29 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: bigger than making fake coins and sneakier. Now, the money 30 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:29,359 Speaker 1: being such bad workmanship every smith, clockmaker, brazier, goldsmith, et cetera, 31 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: and grave stamps, and the work being so flat and 32 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: irregular they can stamp money with a hammer of three 33 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: pound weight, which is a great grievance to the Kingdom 34 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 1: to have our money coins so disingenuously that it may 35 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: be counterfeited with so much ease. This was a good suggestion, 36 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: so good that the Mint was pretty much already in 37 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: possession of such a machine. However, Chaloner also added, like 38 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: everyone else, that the Treasury needed to recall all the 39 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: old coins, melt them down and re mint them. Chaloner 40 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: also made a few other suggestions, some practical and some 41 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: us so. For example, he proposed that the Mint go 42 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: on the road, travel from county to county, to allow 43 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: the rich and the poor like to trade in their 44 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 1: coins without fear of being robbed or missing out. Parliament 45 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: was not going to go for any of it, really, 46 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: after all, who was this William Chaloner anyway is the 47 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: son of a Warwickshire weaver. But Chaloner didn't care whether 48 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: his suggestions were actually adopted. What Chaloner wanted was to 49 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: be noticed. It was just possible, or just becoming possible, 50 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: for smart people with things to say to get attention 51 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: from powerful people through the new medium of the press. 52 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: Have you read the ideas of this chileon? Yes, I 53 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: am immensely interested in his proposals. Maybe we should put 54 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: them to the test. I would be going to speak 55 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: doing further on the subject. A moveablement would be too 56 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: great a charge to the King and treasure. But we 57 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: must do something about the counterfeits. Indeed, Mrs William Chaloner 58 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: speaks since and there's schools at the mint. Having the 59 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: merest idea of how they curved the clippup and coins 60 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: will sink us All Challenger and figured out that he 61 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,359 Speaker 1: could use pamphlets as a way to manufacture himself a 62 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 1: reputation as an expert, to make a name for himself 63 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: not only among the criminal classes, and this he thought 64 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: could get him what he really wanted and in at 65 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: the Mint, a way to waltz through the front door 66 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: and get a close up look at its operations. Challoner 67 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: summed up his proposal by offering to show Parliament some 68 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: exemplary pieces of coin my own design, to demonstrate how 69 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: money can be coined so that it shall be impossible 70 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: wolf for any private person to counterfeit it. And he 71 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: offered to do it at the Mint for I Heart Radio. 72 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,600 Speaker 1: I'm Linda Rodriguez mccrabbie and this is Newton's Law and 73 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: I Heart original podcast Episode three. Mint Condition you are 74 00:05:26,080 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: making Act one. They're not so great re Coinage. William 75 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: Challoner's proposals didn't get him into the Mint yet, but 76 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: his recommendation to recall and recoin, now that was something 77 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: everyone knew had to be done, and by late Parliament 78 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: knew it too. The Great Recoinage, as it was later called, 79 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: started on January and it was meant to be wrapped 80 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: up in a few months. Most of the time, the 81 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 1: mints were seasonal. If that the men who worked at 82 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: them tended to be farm laborers who were called up 83 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: for duty when the mint decided it needed new coins. This, however, 84 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: was an all hands on deck situation in order to 85 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: meet the demands of the incredibly ambitious, certainly foolish schedule 86 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: imposed by Parliament. Work at the mint started at four 87 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: am and didn't stop until midnight every day except Sunday. 88 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: But if you're a picture during a tidy assembly line 89 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: style operation, don't Yes, it's not a modern manufacturing process 90 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: as we understand it today, so don't think of a um, 91 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: you know, production line process where you might start at 92 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: one end of the mint and neatly work your way around. 93 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: That's Chris Barker, historian at the modern Royal Mint. It's 94 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: a very hiddle dey piddled arrangement. So you may well 95 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: have melting at one end and then you move your 96 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: casted strip down to another end of the mint, so 97 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: it's a little bit here, there and everywhere. And this 98 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: was on machines that were now more than thirty years old, 99 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: in a workshop that had been in use since the 100 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: thirteenth century, and all of that manufacturing took place in 101 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: the town. So if you can imagine the situation you 102 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: would you would have if you were a visit to, say, 103 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: walking into the raw Mint in the Tower of London, 104 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: you'd walk into a very narrow, cramped, confined alley way 105 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: which is flanked on either side by wooden buildings, many 106 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: even sort of crazed with age, often falling to pieces, 107 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: and you've got to count them literally propped up with 108 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: timber and sort of bolted together with big eye bolts 109 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: and fall into parts. It's very ramshackle institution. Um by 110 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: this point in history, nearly three d workmen, nine presses, 111 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: and ten million machines, as well as the three large 112 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: furnaces were crammed into this ramshackle institution, which was not 113 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: more than a hundred feet at its widest, and that's 114 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: not even counting the horses. Some of the rolling machines, 115 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: which flattened the sheets of metal to the right thickness 116 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: to be punched into blanks, relied on horsepower to turn 117 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: their incredible weight. There could be as many as twelve 118 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: horses in the workshop at any given moment. Over the 119 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: roughly two years of the recoinage, the Mint spent nearly 120 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: seven hundred pounds as an actual money in hauling manure 121 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: away that's a hundred and thirty five thousand pounds in 122 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:52,559 Speaker 1: today's money. That was at the Tower Mint, the maintment 123 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: in the country. But to facilitate bringing in old coins 124 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: in places far from London and to up production on 125 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: making new ones, the Mint had established temporary operations in Bristol, Chester, Exeter, 126 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: Norwich and York, but none of it the long days. 127 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: The horse manure of the temporary mints was enough. Things 128 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: were not going well at all to begin with. The 129 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: man in charge of the recoinage was a guy called 130 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: Thomas Neil. He was known as Golden Neil after his 131 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: extremely advantageous match to England's richest widow, a woman with 132 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: an estate valued at a hundred and twenty thousand pounds. 133 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: Neil was the Master of the Mint, one of the 134 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 1: three officers along with the warden and the Controller who 135 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 1: ran the Mint. But he was meant to be the 136 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: one making this huge undertaking happen, and Neil was, in 137 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: a word, useless. It's a recoinage is not doing well 138 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: at all. It must be somebody else's fault. Neil was 139 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: one of those rich guys who just kept failing upwards 140 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: with the help of his powerful contacts. He was the 141 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 1: groom of the bed chamber for Charles the Second, James 142 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: the Second, and William the Third, a role that basically 143 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:10,200 Speaker 1: meant that he helped the king, whichever one it was, 144 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: get dressed and referee as card games. He'd been Master 145 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: of the Mint since six eighties six, but he was 146 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: a terrible administrator who had done very little to plan 147 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: for the recoinage. Neil was not a good Master of 148 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: the Mint. I mean he was not involved in in 149 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: then any you know, in a day to day basis. 150 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: He's the man who ran up ginormous debts and was 151 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 1: not really concerned generally from from the Mint point of view. 152 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: So it was his assistant, the Deputy Master, a French 153 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 1: Hugueno called Dr John Francis Faquier, who did the business 154 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: and stuff while Neil did other things. Ran the North 155 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 1: American Postal Service, or rather had a deputy who actually 156 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:55,239 Speaker 1: lived in the colonies do it. Speculated on housing developments 157 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: Neil Street. That has a nice ring to it. Trying 158 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:05,559 Speaker 1: to invent cheap proof dice, raised shipwrecks, stuff like that. 159 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: Who the fun I leave it to you? You consorted right. 160 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 1: Facua did his best, But there weren't enough men, and 161 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: the machines were all old, and there weren't enough of 162 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: them either. The mints were not producing coin quickly enough 163 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: to meet demand, and the country was in actual danger 164 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: of running out of legal physical money. This problem was 165 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: compounded by the fact that the mechanism of the government 166 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,199 Speaker 1: put in place for allowing people to trade in their 167 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: old coins for new ones was not so good. They say, 168 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 1: for a given period of time, we will take coins 169 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: at their face value, regardless of how badly worn or 170 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 1: degreat they are. So if you present something that you 171 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: can see is a shilling but has lost half its weight, 172 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 1: and it's you know, batted and barely legible, the official 173 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: will still take it a shillings value, even though there's 174 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: only half a shilling's worth of silver there. But this 175 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:02,400 Speaker 1: system was somewhat narrow. Only people who paid direct taxes 176 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: or made loans to the government were allowed to trade 177 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: cliped or debased money in for face value. The trade 178 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: in also only lasted five months, and that means that 179 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: those are in the know, those in the urban areas 180 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: who can really get onto this can make a huge 181 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: profit because you can gather a selection of very battered 182 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: coins which only have minimal silver value, tender them in 183 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: and actually get the full face value for them. The 184 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 1: people that suffer are those in the isolated areas, those 185 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: who are more remote and more rural, who cannot get 186 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,439 Speaker 1: all this old coinage that they might have available to 187 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: the exchange in time in order to benefit from this, 188 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: because after a certain time you don't get that full 189 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,959 Speaker 1: face value. Instead you just left with the weight of 190 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: the coinage. Within six months people had to sell their 191 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: old coins at weight, meaning that their coins had suddenly 192 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: lost as much as half of their value. By this time, 193 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: there wasn't enough re legal coin in circulation to pay 194 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:10,679 Speaker 1: for the expenses of daily life. Here's writer John Evelyn's 195 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 1: diary entry from May. Money still continuing exceeding scarce, so 196 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: the done was paid or received, but all was on trust, 197 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: the mint not supplying for common necessities. Things were still 198 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: bad a month later. Want of current money to carry 199 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: on the smallest concerns even for daily provisions in the 200 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 1: markets guineas lowered to twenty two shillings and great sums 201 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: daily transported to Holland, where at yields more with other 202 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:45,080 Speaker 1: treasures sent to pay the armies. And so imprudent was 203 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 1: the late Parliament to condemn the old though clipped and 204 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:53,840 Speaker 1: corrupted till they had provided supplies to this at the 205 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,320 Speaker 1: fraud of the bankers and goldsmiths, who, having gotten immense 206 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: riches by extortion, keep up their treasure in expectation of 207 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: enhancing its value. The mint, Underneil's very hands off leadership, 208 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: was floundering. Nothing considerable coined of the new and now 209 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: only current stamp. Of course, such a scarcity that tumults 210 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: every day feed that there wasn't enough coin was bad 211 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: for wealthier people like John Evelyn, but again it was 212 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: much worse for the poor. Another contemporary observer wrote in 213 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: a private letter that the people are discontented to the utmost, 214 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: adding that many self murders were happening owing to the want, 215 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: and it was starting to look pretty bleak for the 216 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: government as well. For one thing, the want that drove 217 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: people to kill themselves might just as easily drive them 218 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:54,080 Speaker 1: to rage and riot. These were and are the conditions 219 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: that lead to revolution, and in fact, at least one 220 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 1: town saw people arrested for rioting after attack. Collector refused 221 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: to take the old coins, but what else were they 222 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: going to pay with? And that's the other thing. When 223 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: the people can't pay rent or taxes, the government's coffers 224 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: start to empty. This government was already in trouble, so 225 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: the sudden lack of revenue made things that much worse. 226 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: Soldiers in some parts of the country were being paid 227 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: in provisions because there wasn't enough coin to pay them 228 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: in real money. Mutinous grumblings added to the tumult, and 229 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 1: everyone started squinting at the King and Queen suspiciously. If 230 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: Isaac Newton had wanted an easy gig, he had become 231 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: Warden of the Royal Mint at exactly the wrong time 232 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: Act two. Out with the Old in with the Newton. 233 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: To put it diccinctly, the Mint was a shambles, a 234 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,119 Speaker 1: mess that was threatening to undermine the economy, the new monarchy, 235 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 1: the country's fragile financial institutions, everything. And when he was 236 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: confronted with this mess, Warden Isaac Newton didn't do what 237 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: Master Neil had done, and he didn't do what every 238 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: other warden had done, which was basically nothing. A Newson 239 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: could have done that. But Newson was not that sort 240 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: of puss. That's Dr Patricia Farah, Cambridge historian and Newton expert. 241 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,160 Speaker 1: He went in the very energetically and decided he was 242 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: going to overhaul the system and make it work properly. 243 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: And he was a very very dedicated, systematic, organized manager. 244 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 1: Newton rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He was, 245 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: as one biographer later said, a born administrator. Thomas Fowl, 246 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: a clerk at the Mint, actually wrote to Newton to 247 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: tell him that he was the first wordens since at 248 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: least sixteen seventy two who didn't treat the post as 249 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,360 Speaker 1: a signic cure. If I may be so bold to say, 250 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 1: we shall find you fair to exceed the rest for 251 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: the gooden privileges of the Mint, more than all your predecessors. 252 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,120 Speaker 1: Foul also spent the majority of this letter explaining all 253 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:23,159 Speaker 1: the ways that the previous wardens had disappointed. Sir Anthonys 254 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 1: and Ledger, then warden of the Mint, came very seldom 255 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,359 Speaker 1: to the place, and did not anything of service more 256 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: than to come and ask how the affairs of the 257 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: Mint were, And that was all, and so went his 258 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,640 Speaker 1: way foul might have been trying to get on Newton's 259 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: good side, certainly, but Charles Montague, the Chancellor of the 260 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: Exchequer who gave Newton the job, later said that the 261 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:50,239 Speaker 1: recoinage couldn't have happened without him. Nietzsan was absolutely meticulous 262 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 1: in everything that he did. He was a very thorough man. 263 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: It seems that all the energy he put into making 264 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: observations of the stars or holding the dates of ancient 265 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: events that happened thousands of years ago, he turned all 266 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:08,880 Speaker 1: that energy into making sure that the mint was rung 267 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: as efficiently as the microscope had only really just been invented, 268 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: but Newton was putting the mints operations under it. Metaphorically speaking. 269 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: Newton researched the history of the mint going back two 270 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:28,440 Speaker 1: hundred years. He went through decades of accounting books, making 271 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,920 Speaker 1: notes in the margins. He was an obsessive copier. He 272 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: could have had his assistance copied down all the meeting notes, 273 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: all his letters and correspondence with the Treasury and others, 274 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:43,679 Speaker 1: but he did it himself. Haines, bring the records. I 275 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: want all the receipts and accounting books and the warrants. 276 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: This meant that Newton was aware of all the mints business, 277 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: so much so that he knew who was trying to 278 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 1: get one over on the Mint, as the Treasury already 279 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: paid the cop For example, he told the Treasury not 280 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: to pay the carpenters until the quality of their work 281 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,679 Speaker 1: was checked. We are humbly off opinion that the work 282 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: done by the carpenter and the rest of the workman 283 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: ought to be surveyed and valued before their whole bills 284 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 1: are paid off. Another time, he kept the Mint from 285 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,560 Speaker 1: signing a contract with some metal dealers who had offered 286 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,680 Speaker 1: to take over the recoinage at a very steep markup. 287 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: These goldsmiths want how much preposterous? From my observations, the 288 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,000 Speaker 1: Mint can do for at least a third less than 289 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: these Charlatan's propose. Golden Neil has made a mess of 290 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 1: this mood that he was spending his wife's money and 291 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: not the Treasury. Is within a month and a half 292 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,399 Speaker 1: on the job, Newton had shouldered useless Neil out of 293 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: the way and was basically doing his job too. We 294 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:50,400 Speaker 1: are in the business of making money, not spending it needlessly. 295 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: Newton knew that in order for the Mint to meet 296 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: the demands of the Treasury. Some things, a lot of 297 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,640 Speaker 1: things had to change. If you can keep reason above passion, 298 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: that and watchfulness will be your best defendants. Newton saw 299 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,400 Speaker 1: that the machines were producing a maximum of fifteen thousand 300 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:18,800 Speaker 1: pounds of coin a week. The treasury wanted thirty pounds 301 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: of coin a week. This was a mass problem. Newton 302 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:28,160 Speaker 1: calculated that he'd need two new smelting furnaces, eight new 303 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: rolling mills, and five new coining presses. This sort of 304 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: empirical data collection, this was what Newton was really really 305 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 1: good at. For example, as Thomas Levinson noted in his 306 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: book Newton in the Counterfeiter, Newton realized that a new 307 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: melting pot could hold eight hundred pounds of silver metal, 308 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: but within six weeks that capacity was reduced to just 309 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: six and fifty pounds because the pot actually got smaller 310 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: as the silver codd it. This effected the output and 311 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,399 Speaker 1: the number of coins that could be produced, so Newton 312 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: determined that a part was only good for about a 313 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty meltings. Newton cast his eye around the 314 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: workshop looking for more inefficiencies. There is also a waste 315 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:13,119 Speaker 1: in the milling by the dripping off off the sand 316 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: with some particles of silver, and by some blanks falling 317 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: out of the pan upon the half and shreds of 318 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,159 Speaker 1: silver lost in the dust, or by sticking to the 319 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: workman's shoes. Then he turned to the men themselves. One 320 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,240 Speaker 1: of the things that he did was to institute what 321 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,680 Speaker 1: we would call time and motion studies, and he watched 322 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 1: all the people working, and he insisted that they should 323 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: work far, far faster to make the work more efficient. 324 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: Newton calculated the rate at which mint workers could turn 325 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: out coins. Two mills with four millers, twelve horses, two horsekeepers, 326 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:58,120 Speaker 1: three cutters, two flatters, eight sizes, one kneeler, three blanches, 327 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: too markers to press his with fourteen laborers to pull 328 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: at them, can coin three thousand pounds up money per diam. 329 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,959 Speaker 1: Newton said, the men operating the press needed to produce 330 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,159 Speaker 1: fifty to fifty five coins a minute in order to 331 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:16,159 Speaker 1: make three thou pounds of coin a day. That's almost 332 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:21,200 Speaker 1: a coin every second. That's fast. It is physically demanding. 333 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,439 Speaker 1: And the four gentlemen who are pulling on the on 334 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: the ropes as part of the screw press, and there's 335 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 1: the demands as such that they can only operate in 336 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: shifts of fifteen minutes before they're exhausted. So they're doing 337 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 1: fifteen minutes on they'll swap out. Four more people come 338 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: in fifteen minutes, and so they're constantly swapping in and out. 339 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: This does not make Newton popular with his new staff. Unsurprisingly, 340 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: all the staff disliked him because he made the work 341 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: at a far higher rate, since he got rid of 342 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: all the little private practices where people were making money 343 00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: on the site. So he was a very very efficient manager. 344 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 1: He was also a ruthless manage I don't think Newton 345 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 1: was particularly well liked at all, if I'm honest. I 346 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:06,360 Speaker 1: mean there are there are accounts of people who get 347 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,199 Speaker 1: on with him. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't. He 348 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,919 Speaker 1: was not disliked by everybody, but there was also a 349 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: lot of people he rubbed up the wrong way. I 350 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: think he's probably one of those individuals where if he 351 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,840 Speaker 1: took a disliking to you, that was it. No matter 352 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: what you did, no matter what you could do, you've 353 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:26,280 Speaker 1: had it. Newton's efforts and indifference to the opinions of 354 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: his staff paid off. Between sixteen ninety six and seventeen hundred, 355 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 1: The value of the silver struck by the Mint was 356 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: more than five point one million pounds. That was about 357 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,679 Speaker 1: two million pounds more than had been made in the 358 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: previous thirty five years put together, and more importantly, by 359 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: September sixteen ninety six, silver coin was again flowing through 360 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: the veins of the country's economy. There were no major riots, 361 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,359 Speaker 1: no revolution, and both the King and Queen kept their heads. 362 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: Newton thought he deserved a raise, or at least as 363 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: much as Neil was getting, for being master. The salary 364 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,560 Speaker 1: of the warden of his Majesty's Mint is only four 365 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: pound per annum, with a house where forty pound per annum, 366 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,479 Speaker 1: and his purposes are only three pound twelve shillings per 367 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: annum for call, all which taxes being deducted. Is so 368 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,960 Speaker 1: small in respect of the salaries and purposes of the 369 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: other officers of the Mint, as suffices not to support 370 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,480 Speaker 1: the authority of his office. It seems that Newton got 371 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,960 Speaker 1: that raise, But there was still another problem facing the Mint, 372 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,719 Speaker 1: and this one wasn't something Newton could solve through a 373 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: time and motion study. This was a problem that would, 374 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: at least for a while, consume the majority of Newton's 375 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: time as warden bringing clippers and counterfeiters to justice, and 376 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: it was a part of Newton's job that he was 377 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:02,399 Speaker 1: not happy about at all. Nor is there any reward 378 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:06,239 Speaker 1: or encouragement appointing for my service in these matters? Nor 379 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 1: am I provided with any competent assistance to enable me 380 00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 1: to grapple with an undertaking soul vac sastious and dangerous? 381 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: Is this coming up on Newton's Law? We know by 382 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: now that this most vexatious counterfeiter, William Chaloner, is no 383 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,639 Speaker 1: run of the mill coiner, So how will his play 384 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: for the mint itself turn out? The Mint is either 385 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 1: incompetent or corrupt or both. Newton's Law is a production 386 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,760 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. It's written and hosted by Me 387 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: Linda Rodriguez McRobie. Our senior producer is Ryan Murdoch. Our 388 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: producer is Emily Marina. Our executive producer is Jason English. 389 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:56,119 Speaker 1: Original music by Alice McCoy with editing help from Mary Do, 390 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,360 Speaker 1: Sound design and mixing by Jeremy Thal, Research in fact 391 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: checking by me and Jocelyn Sears. Voice acting by Keith Fleming, 392 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: Mark McDonald and Robert Jack. Special thanks to Chris Barker 393 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 1: and Dr Patricia Farrell. Special thanks to Mangesh Hatikudur and 394 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: Fineflex Sound Studios. Our show logo is designed by Lucy Continia. 395 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:27,120 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, Bloodio