Albert Grant (company promoter)
Albert Grant (18 November 1831 – 30 August 1899) (born Abraham Gottheimer); Baron Grant in the nobility of Italy, was an Irish-born British company promoter and Conservative politician, unseated in 1874 for election offences.
Early life
Born in
Company promotion
In 1859 Grant established the first of a number of companies which were to fail at the expense of the shareholders. This was the Mercantile Discount Company which failed in 1861. In 1864 he established Crédit Foncier and Mobilier of England which was used as the vehicle to launch a number of ventures. Grant actively courted investors by using directories and targeting financially naive groups such as members of the clergy and widows. He established a number of companies between 1864 and 1872 each of which collapsed in controversial circumstances with allegations of fraud made against Grant.[1]
In 1872 he financed construction of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (Moel Tryfan Undertaking), the narrow gauge railway from Dinas, near Caernarfon, to Brygwyn and Rhyd Ddu. He put the railway company into receivership over a loan of £7,000 made towards preliminary expenses and secured on the General Undertaking in 1877 but in 1878 the company won its second appeal, with a ruling that the Moel Tryfan Undertaking was not liable for the debt and Grant lost the £7,000. He earned a 10% commission, £8,800, for placing the Moel Tryfan Undertaking's capital and debentures.[3][4]
In 1875, Grant bought The Echo, the London evening newspaper, but sold it after less than 12 months to John Passmore Edwards.[5]
Cooper's Hill
Grant built a mansion house at Cooper's Hill near Egham, Surrey, in c.1865, to a semi-Gothic design by F. & H. Francis. From 1872 until 1906, it housed the Royal Indian Engineering College.
Member of Parliament 1865–1868
In 1865 Grant was chosen as Conservative candidate for the parliamentary constituency of Kidderminster, in opposition to the sitting Liberal Member of Parliament (MP), Colonel Luke White.[6] The election generated great interest as a letter had been sent to all members of the electorate denouncing Grant as "a fraudulent adventurer". Grant and White were nominated at Kidderminster Town Hall on 11 July in front of a huge crowd. Grant was proposed and seconded by two local carpet manufacturers, who dismissed the charges against him at length and read out a number of character references defending his reputation.[7] Grant unseated White to become Kidderminster's MP when the poll was held two days later. Three years later another general election was held, but Grant did not stand.[8] The seat was regained by the Liberals, with Thomas Lea becoming member of parliament.
Italian and Portuguese honours
In 1868
1874 election
When a
Leicester Square
During 1873 the Metropolitan Board of Works had been attempting to acquire Leicester Square for use as a public gardens. In January 1874 they were unexpectedly informed that Grant had "for some months past been in negotiation with the owners for the purchase of the ground with a view to laying it out as a garden, and handing it over to the Board as a gift to the Metropolis". He purchased it for £11,060. The square was laid out at Grant's expense, and the deeds formally handed over to the board on 3 July 1874.[11]
Bankruptcy
From 1876 until his death, Grant was constantly being pursued by creditors in the courts. While most of his failing companies were British, he was involved in an international scandal involving the fraudulent sale of shares in the exhausted Emma Silver Mine at
Death
Grant spent his last years in relative poverty. He died of heart failure at Aldwick Place, Pagham, near Bognor, in Sussex in August 1899 aged 67.[1][2][12]
References
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f "Famous Promoter Dead. Baron Albert Grant Expires in London in Poverty" (PDF). The New York Times. London (published 31 August 1899). 30 August 1899. p. 7. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
- ^ "Fitzgibbon and Another V. Grant and Another – Grant and Another V. the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway Company". The Times. 11 May 1878. Retrieved 15 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 978-0-86093-626-8.
- ^ Roberts, W. (7 April 1894). "Leading London Papers and their Editors. The 'Echo' and Mr. Passmore Edwards". Great Thoughts from Master Minds. III. Third Series: 137–138.
- ^ "Kidderminster". The Times. 8 July 1865. p. 25. Retrieved 15 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Kidderminster". The Times. 12 July 1865. p. 23. Retrieved 15 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Coming Elections". The Times. 7 November 1868. p. 4. Retrieved 15 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Kidderminster". The Times. 9 July 1874. p. 9. Retrieved 15 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Leader". The Times. 17 July 1874. p. 9. Retrieved 15 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Leicester Square, North Side, and Lisle Street Area: Leicester Estate: Leicester House and Leicester Square North Side (Nos 1-16), Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho (1966), pp. 441–472 accessed: 1 May 2010
- ^ "Obituary. Baron Albert Grant". The Times. 31 August 1899. p. 4. Retrieved 15 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
- Seccombe, Thomas (1901). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Albert Grant