The design for the new £50 note was unveiled in 2009 and features entrepreneur Matthew Boulton, (3 September 1728 – 17 August 1809) who was an English manufacturer and business partner of the Scottish engineer James Watt. Together during the last half of the 18th century they installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills.

Boulton is credited with applying modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.

The new £50 note, will initially be circulated in tandem with the current £50 note featuring Sir John Houblon, the first governor of the Bank of England, before that note is finally withdrawn. The design of the £50 note has rarely changed since it was first introduced in 1725, with a white £50 being use until for more than 200 years up until 1943.

There are 210 million £50 notes in circulation, valued at £10.5bn and 84% increase on 7 years ago. The £20 remains the most common Bank of England note in circulation, with 1.55 billion notes in circulation worth £31bn.