An internet campaign and petition to have Robert Owen recognised on a Scottish banknote is gathering supporters rapidly.
There can be few who would object to this remarkable social reformer being given more widespread recognition. The ideals he explored at the cotton mills of New Lanark were public-spirited and ahead of their time.
At New Lanark, Owen pioneered approaches to tackling poverty which retain every bit of their relevance today: the first co-operative models, the importance of childcare, seeing the potential in every worker and the need to tackle alcohol abuse were among the insights which marked him out among employers of the time.
While he may have been Welsh by birth, he is very much an adopted son of this nation. Those who take the time to stop off at the New Lanark Visitor Centre, one of Scotland’s most under-rated tourist attractions, will need no persuading of the merits of the man. The proposal is that he should be featured on Scottish currency to mark the international year of the Cooperative in 2012. The most obvious candidate bank for this is, perhaps, the Clydesdale, which last year issued a series of notes featuring famous Scots.
However, it would be perhaps more appropriate for notes issued by one of the other main Scottish banks, either HBOS – which incorporates the former Bank of Scotland, and retains the right to print Scottish bills – or the Royal Bank of Scotland.
As the taxpayer “owns” big chunks of both institutions at present, perhaps we could demand that one of them oblige the campaigners.
Certainly, with individualism, greed and short-termism from bankers having led us into the present financial crisis, there is something deeply pleasing about the idea of putting someone whose views were the antithesis of these principles on our paper money. Equally, ensuring bankers have a reminder of more communitarian, humanitarian ideals close by them at all times would only be a good thing.
