Summary: Wood’s Halfpence
Key dates:
In 1722 the English government gave William Wood a patent to mint coins for Ireland as these were of better quality than the Irish ones. The Irish parliament was very angry about this especially as it was believed that Wood had paid a favourite of the king to help him secure the patent. There followed a huge row which centred on whether or not the English had the right to do this. The Irish refused to use these coins so they were withdrawn eventually.
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