LONDON -- The Bank of England swallowed its pride and overcame its perceived prejudice Wednesday by designating Jane Austen as the new face of the 10-pound note, bowing to public outrage over the possibility that only male historical figures would be represented on British currency. 
 
 The beloved novelist will probably appear on bank notes starting in 2017, a year after the portrait of 19th century prison reformer Elizabeth Fry is to be phased out from the five-pound note. The announcement in April that Fry would be replaced by wartime leader Winston Churchill, thus eliminating any women from Britain’s past on its bank notes, sparked protests and an online petition that drew more than 30,000 signatures. 
 
 “We’ve listened, and we fully understand the concerns that were raised by many people,” said Mark Carney, the new governor of the Bank of England, who took up the post three weeks ago. “We believe that our notes should celebrate the full diversity of British historical figures and their contributions in a wide range of fields.” 
 
 About Austen, who wrote the classics “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility,” Carney added: “We’re very certain that she will prove a popular choice.” 
 
 The move followed a storm of criticism and a creative campaign that included the Internet petition and a protest at Bank of England headquarters by women dressed up as important female figures in British history, such as scientist Rosalind Franklin and the ancient warrior-queen Boadicea. 
 
 Caroline Criado-Perez, a freelance journalist who led the drive for women’s representation on bank notes, said she was “absolutely delighted” with Carney’s decision, which he announced at a news conference at Austen’s home in Hampshire, now a museum. 
 
 Criado-Perez is particularly pleased that Carney has promised a review of how the bank chooses the people who appear on its bills. Carney pledged to revisit the criteria and to make the selection process more transparent. 
 
 “If we want to stop having basically white men running everything and being chosen for everything, then the process by which we value things and choose things needs to be changed,” said Criado-Perez. 
 
 The Bank of England’s change of heart comes at an interesting time. At present, besides Fry the reformer, the only woman featured on British currency is 87-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, who as monarch appears on all notes and coins. 
 
 But after her death, Britain is likely to be ruled by kings for decades, since the next three in line for the throne are Prince Charles, 64, Prince William, 31, and William’s new son, George Alexander Louis, who was born Monday. With male monarchs eventually replacing Elizabeth on British money, the need to ensure that notable women from British history also appear takes on even more urgency. 
 
 Austen will be only the third such woman to grace a banknote, following Fry and nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale. Her face will replace Charles Darwin’s. 
 
 A prototype of the bill unveiled Wednesday shows the silhouette of a writing desk and a drawing of the house where Austen’s brother lived, which is believed to have been an inspiration for places in some of her novels. 
 
 The writer’s portrait is based on a sketch by her sister, and below her gently smiling face is a quote from “Pride and Prejudice”: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading.” 
 
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 Author Jane Austen is to feature on the next £10 note, the Bank of England says, avoiding a long-term absence of women represented on banknotes. 
 
 The Pride and Prejudice author will be the next face of the note, replacing Charles Darwin, probably in 2017. 
 
 Chancellor George Osborne tweeted the move showed "sense and sensibility". 
 
 In April, the Bank prompted a high-profile campaign against the prospect of having no female characters, besides the Queen, on the UK's currency. 
 
 It had announced that Sir Winston Churchill would be put on the £5 note from 2016, replacing social reformer Elizabeth Fry. 
 
 The latest announcement means that women could be absent from newly issued banknotes for up to a year, although the Elizabeth Fry £5 note will still be in circulation. 
 
 'In the wings' 
 
 On Twitter, Mr Osborne wrote: "[Incoming Bank of England governor] Mark Carney's choice of Jane Austen as face of £10 note is great. After understandable row over lack of women, shows sense and sensibility." 
 
 Banknotes are regularly redesigned, in order to maintain security and prevent forgeries. 
 
 Banknotes around the world Denmark has six different note denominations, half of which showed famous Danish women (Karen Blixen, Anna Ancher and Johanne Luise Heiberg) 
 
 US banknotes mostly celebrate former presidents and signatories to 1776 declaration of independence, all of whom are men 
 
 The Queen appears on more denominations than anyone else - she features on currency in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK 
 
 The most recent new design from the Bank of England to enter circulation was the £50 note. This features Matthew Boulton and James Watt, who were most celebrated for bringing the steam engine into the textile manufacturing process. 
 
 The decision to replace Elizabeth Fry on the £5 note prompted protests and discussions about female representation on banknotes, but Jane Austen was thought to have already been part of the Bank's plans for the next new note. 
 
 Sir Mervyn King, in his last public appearance as governor of the Bank, said the author was "quietly waiting in the wings" to replace Darwin. 
 
 Mr Carney started discussions about female representation on banknotes on his first day in office. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mark Carney discusses women on banknotes and in the Bank of England 
 
 The Bank said in a statement that it was "never the Bank's intention" that none of the four characters on banknotes would be a woman. 
 
 "Jane Austen certainly merits a place in the select group of historical figures to appear on our banknotes. Her novels have an enduring and universal appeal and she is recognised as one of the greatest writers in English literature," Mr Carney said. 
 
 He also announced a review of the selection process for future banknote characters. Jane Austen will be the 17th historical figure to appear on Bank of England notes. The review will be completed by the end of the year. 
 
 Campaign 
 
 The pressure was increased on the new governor through protests, an online petition - signed by 35,000 people, and a threat of legal action. 
 
 Image caption Caroline Criado-Perez led a campaign for more female representation on banknotes 
 
 The campaign was led by Caroline Criado-Perez, from Rutland, who was invited to speak to Bank officials about the situation earlier in July. 
 
 She described the expected announcement as "a brilliant day for women and a fantastic one for people power". 
 
 "We warmly welcome this move from the Bank and thank them for listening to us and taking such positive and emphatic steps to address our concerns," she said. 
 
 "To hear Jane Austen confirmed is fantastic, but to hear the process will be comprehensively reviewed is even better. 
 
 The money raised for a legal challenge will now be donated to women's charities the Fawcett Society, Women's Aid and Rape Crisis. 
 
 Banknote features 
 
 Jane Austen, who lived from 1775 to 1817, became one of the country's most celebrated novelists. She was born in Hampshire as one of eight children. 
 
 Image caption Jane Austen is one of the country's most celebrated authors. She died in 1817 
 
 She began to write as a teenager. Her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, appeared in 1811. She described her next novel, Pride and Prejudice, 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. 
 
 Most of her novels were published anonymously. 
 
 The portrait of Jane Austen, which will appear on the banknote, is adapted from a sketch drawn by her sister Cassandra Austen. Other features include: 
 
 A quote from Pride and Prejudice - "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!" 
 
 An illustration of Elizabeth Bennet, one of the characters in Pride and Prejudice 
 
 An image of Godmersham Park in Kent - the home of Jane Austen's brother, Edward Austen Knight, and the inspiration for a number of novels 
 
 A central background design of the author's writing table which she used at home at Chawton Cottage in Hampshire 
 
 Fellow writers William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens have appeared on banknotes in recent times. Dickens was on the £10 note and Shakespeare on the £20 note. 
 
 Bank of England notes can be spent throughout the UK. In addition, three banks in Scotland and four in Northern Ireland are authorised to issue banknotes. ||||| Jane Austen has been confirmed as the next face of the £10 note – but for the quote that will feature on the reverse, the Bank of England is steering clear of her many waspish observations on the subject of money in favour of a line from Pride and Prejudice: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!" 
 
 Using Austen's image on banknotes is surprisingly apt: her novels and letters feature an abundance of choice quotes and remarks on the obligations of wealth, the extravagance of the rich and the challenges presented by barely having enough money to live comfortably. 
 
 "I am sorry to tell you that I am getting very extravagant, and spending all my money, and, what is worse for you, I have been spending yours, too." That is not a line from a novel but from one of Austen's 1811 letters to her sister Cassandra, in which she discloses she went shopping for fabric but was "tempted" by a pretty-coloured muslin. 
 
 That's certainly not a sentiment that would have sat well with new Bank governor Mark Carney's predecessor, Sir Mervyn King, who was accused by some of banging the drum for the need for austerity. 
 
 If the Bank had been looking to preach a message of thrift, there are plenty of Austenisms to support that, too. In 1799, as a young woman, Austen was provided with an allowance of "£5 a quarter" by her father, according to the Jane Austen Society, and clearly wasn't above frequenting the 18th-century equivalent of the pound shop. "We have been to the cheap shop, and very cheap we found it," she wrote to Cassandra. 
 
 Or how about this line from an early work, Lady Susan: "When a man has once got his name in a banking-house he rolls in money." Perhaps a little too close to the bone, bearing in mind the recent kerfuffle surrounding the £874,000-a-year pay and perks package handed to Carney. 
 
 To his credit – or, perhaps, because he aware he was surrounded by Austenophiles who might fire the quote back at him – Carney proactively drew attention to the line when he delivered a speech at Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire, on Wednesday to confirm that the author would appear on £10 notes, probably from 2017. King had previously let slip to MPs that Austen was "waiting in the wings" as a potential candidate to feature on a banknote. 
 
 "Jane Austen certainly merits a place in the select group of historical figures to appear on our banknotes. Her novels have an enduring and universal appeal and she is recognised as one of the greatest writers in English literature. As Austen joins Adam Smith, Boulton and Watt, and in future, Churchill, our notes will celebrate a diverse range of individuals who have contributed in a wide range of fields," said Carney. 
 
 The theme of money runs through Austen's novels, from Mr Darcy's reported £10,000-a-year fortune in Pride and Prejudice, to the Dashwood sisters' lack of cash in Sense and Sensibility. 
 
 "She does write about money, I think, more than any other canonical novelist in English," the Austen scholar Prof Janet Todd told an audience at the Hay festival last month. "All the Austen characters, except the entirely idealistic or the very stupid, know that the relationship to money is important." 
 
 Austen on money 
 
 • "A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of." – Mansfield Park 
 
 • "Oh! my sweetest Lizzy! how rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have! Jane's is nothing to it – nothing at all. I am so pleased – so happy. Such a charming man! – so handsome! so tall! … Ten thousand a year, and very likely more! 'Tis as good as a Lord!" – Mrs Bennet's remark to her daughter Elizabeth on hearing of her engagement to Mr Darcy, Pride and Prejudice 
 
 • "I am not without hopes of tempting Mrs Lloyd to settle in Bath; meat is only 8d per pound, butter 12d, and cheese 9 1/2 d. You must carefully conceal from her, however, the exorbitant price of fish: a salmon has been sold at 2s 9d per pound the whole fish." – from a letter written by Austen to her sister Cassandra in 1801 
 
 • "Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does." – Emma 
 
 • "We have been to the cheap shop, and very cheap we found it, but there are only flowers made there, no fruit; and as I could get four or five very pretty sprigs of the former for the same money which would procure only one Orleans plum – in short, could get more for three or four shillings than I could have means of bringing home – I cannot decide on the fruit till I hear from you again." – letter to Cassandra, 1799
– Jane Austen is going on Britain's 10-pound note in 2017, reports the BBC. And the guy she's replacing is no slouch—Charles Darwin. Along with her image will be a quote from Austen's Pride and Prejudice: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!" The Guardian calls the decision "surprisingly apt" given how frequently the theme of money comes up in Austen's novels, even if it finds the choice of quote a little "safe." So why the move? The push began earlier this year when the Bank of England announced that Winston Churchill would replace prison reformer Elizabeth Fry on the 5-pound note. Critics pointed out that would leave no women on the nation's currency, except for the queen. And as the LA Times notes, this week's birth of a certain royal baby means that Britain will be ruled by kings for decades after the 87-year-old queen dies. Austen's presence means at least one woman will remain on the money.