Good evening! I doubt that many of you will be aware that the Bank of England was actually founded, in 1694, by a Scotsman named William Paterson. Our original purpose was to raise the funds to enable the King to finance his foreign military adventures. But Paterson soon parted company with his fellow directors, leaving the Bank the following year. Rather more of you may be aware that same William Paterson became the financial brains behind the Darien scheme, a project to establish a Scottish colony in Panama that could act as trading post between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Unfortunately, just about everything ... (full story)