5 Dollars

The Colonial Bank operated across the British West Indies from its founding in 1836, with branches spanning Trinidad, Barbados, British Guiana, and several of the smaller Leeward and Windward Islands. Notes issued under this name circulated across multiple territories simultaneously — the same instrument might pass through Port of Spain, Bridgetown, and Georgetown in a single commercial chain, which complicated redemption considerably.

The bank was absorbed by Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas) in 1926, but notes from the late issue period of this series continued to circulate informally well after that merger. The thirty-year window of this particular series reflects successive re-issues from standing plates rather than distinct design changes.