FINANCIAL SCANDALS

See Also: THE BARBECUED CHEVALIER; THE CITY OF LONDON & FINANCE; THE GREAT RAILWAY CRASH OF 1866; THE NOT SO HONOURABLE MEMBER FOR BURNLEY; PARLIAMENT The Commons, Robert Maxwell

Quotation: Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. - Euripides (c.480-406 B.C.).

The Colebrooke Crash

In 1772-3 there was a European-wide financial crisis that started in London. One of its causes was Sir George Colebrooke s attempt to corner the global alum market.

Location: 23 Arlington Street, SW1A 1RJ (blue, black)

Arnos Grove House, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

32 Soho Square, W1D 3JR. The house was sold to Sir Joseph Banks in 1779. (purple, red)

See Also: THE WHITBY TRADE

Albert Grant

Albert Grant M.P. was a company promoter who engaged in flamboyant gestures that generated publicity for himself and his ventures. In 1874 he bought the garden that fills the centre of Leicester Square, which at the time was being used as a refuse dump. He paid for the site to be beautified and then presented it to the Metropolitan Board of Works. A monument in the garden's centre commemorates his generosity.1

Many of Grant's business practices were questionable. He ruined himself through the extravagance of his lifestyle and by engaging in litigation that sought to defend his reputation, which had been called into question by the financial press.

Location: Leicester Square, WC2H 7NG (purple, orange)

Kensington House, 1 Kensington Court, W8 5DL. A house on the site was used by Grant for only a single night to give a ball in 1880. Three years later it was demolished. (red, purple)

See Also: SQUARES Leicester Square

¹. Albert Grant was granted an Italian barony because he helped finance the Vittorio Emmanuel Monument (a.k.a. The Typewriter) in Rome.

Richard Lyons

Richard Lyons (1310-1381) was an arriviste financier. He became associated with both Alice Perrers, who was the mistress of the senile King Edward III, and William Lord Latimer.

As a result, Lyons controlled the issuing of licences to trade in foreign exchange. At the time these bills were the means by which merchants circumvented the Church's laws against usury. Latimer and Lyons were attacked in Good Parliament of 1376. Lyons was placed in the Tower of London. There he enjoyed a good quality of life. This became known generally and engendered further resentment.

John of Gaunt disliked the Parliament. He freed Lyons. The financier was restored to his properties as was Latimer, who had remained at liberty.

Parliament was not inclined to co-operate with the Crown. Therefore, the Crown imposed a poll tax. The exercise was repeated. On the third occasion it triggered the Poll Tax of 1381. The rebels beheaded Lyons in Cheapside.

Location: Cheapside, EC2V 6AH (blue, orange)

The South Sea Bubble

In 1720 the South Sea Company offered to assume the government's National Debt. This led to the business's share price soaring. It has been claimed that the scientist and government official Sir Isaac Newton invested in the company. Its share price rose and he sold his shares, realising a profit of 7000. He was moved to comment that he could predict the motions of the heavens but not the madness of people. However, such was the pull of the Bubble that he reinvested in the Company. It collapsed and he experienced a loss of 20,000. For the rest of his life, he tried to avoid hearing the words South and Sea mentioned in conjunction.

John Fellowes was one of the wealthiest of the South Sea Company's directors at the time of the Bubble. He had a country house at Carshalton but no estate beyond its garden.

In 2015 the Treasury redeemed the last 1200 undated gilts that had been issued to help contain the financial implications of the South Sea Bubble crisis.

Location: South Sea House, 38 Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8AY (orange, brown)

See Also: COUNTRY HOUSES Carshalton House; HOSPITALS Guy's Hospital; MONEY The Royal Mint, Sir Isaac Newton; SIR ISAAC NEWTON; TRADING COMPANIES

David Backhouse 2024