5 Pounds

Gibraltar's prewar note-issuing framework operated under the Currency Notes Ordinance of 1934, which transferred issue responsibility from London directly to the local government — a shift with real practical consequences when the colony was evacuated during World War II. The civilian population was dispersed across Britain, Northern Ireland, and elsewhere from 1940 onward, and the currency administration continued functioning through that dislocation for nearly the entire war.

Waterlow & Sons printed this series, as they did much of Britain's colonial paper at the time. The long date range — two decades — reflects continuity of design rather than continuous printing runs; individual printings within the series can sometimes be distinguished by serial prefix blocks.