Famous Bath author Jane Austen is set to feature on the next £10 note, the Bank of England have announced.
The author will replace Charles Darwin as the face of the note, most likely coming into service from 2017.
Back in April, a high profile campaign was launched against the prospect of their being no female faces on bank notes aside from the Queen in the UK.
Sir Winston Churchill will be on all £5 notes from 2016, replacing the current female face Elizabeth Fry.
Women will be absent from newly issued notes for up to a year it has been said, though the current £5 notes will remain in circulation.
The decision by the Bank of England to replace Elizabeth Fry on the £5 notes was met with a backlash as protests and petitions were launched. However, Jane Austen was believed to have already been part of plans for the new notes when that announcement was made.
Jane Austen, one of Bath’s most famous residents, began to write as a teenager.
Her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, appeared in 1811. Her next novel, Pride and Prejudice, was described as her “own darling child”.
Her other published novels were Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey – the final two of which were published after her death.
You can watch a video from the Bank of England about the announcement below.
