Whitaker Wright
James Whitaker Wright | |
---|---|
Born | Stafford, England | 9 February 1846
Died | 26 January 1904 Royal Courts of Justice, Westminster, England | (aged 57)
Cause of death | Suicide |
Criminal status | convicted |
Spouse | Anna Edith Weightman |
Parent(s) | James Wright, Matilda Whitaker |
Conviction(s) | 26 January 1904 |
Criminal charge | Fraud |
Penalty | seven years imprisonment |
James Whitaker Wright (9 February 1846 – 26 January 1904) was a company promoter and
Early life
The eldest of five children, he was the son of James Wright, a
Emigration, marriage and fortune
On the death of his father in 1870, the family emigrated to
Wright returned to England, and promoted a multitude of Australian and Canadian mining companies on the London market.
Sharp practices
Wright's career as a swindler peaked in the 1890s, when he formed the London and Globe Company which floated a variety of stock and bond issues dealing with mining. Wright called some of these stocks "consols", the term used by the British government for state bond issues that were solid and reliable. He loaded the directorships of his companies with Peers of the Realm; for instance, the Chairman of the London and Globe Company was the
Wright became a friend and financial adviser to Sir James Reid, the personal physician to Queen Victoria. In fact Reid became the trustee for Mrs. Wright in the financier's will; later this would lead to financial difficulties for the physician for neglecting her interests in the events connected to Wright's fall. Reid eventually had to pay Mrs. Wright £5,000.
Everything was apparently working well in Wright's empire, when in 1900 he sought to float a bond issue for the building of the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (now the London Underground's Bakerloo line). The line had been difficult and costly to construct. Why Wright sought to get involved in the company is contentious; he was a mining engineer, not a construction or railroad engineer. It is likely that Wright believed he would be able to cap his career in City finance if he were knighted for his public spirited activity. In any case the bond issue was a disaster — Wright found it strained his resources, and few people were willing to subscribe. It started the collapse of the entire Wright group.
At this point Wright made his criminal error. To maintain an image of solvency and success, Wright kept pushing thousands of pounds from one of his companies to another in a series of "loans". This led to some misrepresentations on balance sheets. But when he announced that, despite the apparent prosperity of his group, there would be no dividends, people became suspicious. In December 1900, the companies collapsed. Wright fled, but was brought back to stand trial. The shock waves led to a panic in London's exchange. There were other losses. The humiliated Marquess of Dufferin and Ava died in 1902 in the midst of the investigation.
Trial and death
The trial took place in January 1904, before Mr. Justice Bigham; the prosecution was led by one of the best barristers of the day, Rufus Isaacs. Bigham was one of the most astute corporate law experts in England, and Isaacs was an expert in stock market procedure, having previously worked as a broker. The government, when studying the confusion of Wright's paper trail, could not see a successful government prosecution; instead the prosecution was brought by the stockholders. With a prosecutor exposing the various financial tricks that Wright pulled for the jury, and a jurist patiently explaining points about finance, Wright's attempts at obfuscation were defeated.
On 26 January 1904, Wright was convicted of fraud at the Royal Courts of Justice and given a seven-year prison sentence. He committed suicide by swallowing cyanide in a court anteroom immediately afterward.[5] The inquest also revealed that he had been carrying a revolver in his pocket, presumably as a backup; he was never searched, as the security was weaker at the Royal Courts, which were Civil Courts. The trial was held there as it was deemed likelier that the special jury required would be less prejudiced against the accused than a normal jury at the Old Bailey criminal court, which was in the city.[6] In spite of his financial misconduct, there was a great outburst of grief at his funeral at Witley, where he is buried.
Witley Park
In 1890 Wright purchased an estate named Lea Park between
In popular culture
- Whitaker Wright was popularised along with his fictional great-grandson in a 2006 episode of Hustle titled "Ties That Bind Us".
- H. G. Wells was fascinated by the fall of Wright, and it influenced the writer's novels Tono-Bungay and The World of William Clissold.
References and sources
- References
- ^ Macrory 2018, p. 5.
- ^ Hamilton 2018, p. 19.
- ^ Whitaker Wright at www.miningswindles.com
- ^ a b "The Creation of a Deer Park". The Times. No. 40368. 13 November 1913. p. 8. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
- ^ "WHITAKER WRIGHT COMMITS SUICIDE IN COURT AFTER HEARING SENTENCE CONDEMNING HIM TO PENAL SERVITUDE". San Francisco Call. 27 January 1904.
- ^ Yates 1952, pp. 47–49.
- ^ "Whittaker Wright: His Home at Lea", West Gippsland [Victoria, BC] Gazette, 11 August 1903
- ^ Macrory 2018, pp. 103–108.
- Sources
- Macrory, Henry (2018). Ultimate Folly - the Rises and Falls of Whitaker Wright the World's Most Shameless Swindler. ISBN 978-1-78590-378-6.
- Hamilton, Douglas (2018). The Making of Whitaker Wright. Douglas Hamilton. ISBN 978-1983139536.
- Ward Lock & Co.
- Further reading
- ISBN 0-06-465090-1.
- Plazak, Dan (2010). "Whitaker Wright's House of Cards". A Hole in the Ground with a Liar at the Top: Fraud and Deceit in the Golden Age of American Mining. ISBN 978-0-87480-840-7.
- ISBN 978-0140130249.
- Walker Smith, Derek (1934). "The Fall of Whitaker Wright". Lord Reading and his Cases, the Study of a Great Career. ISBN 9781406731972.
External links
- Website devoted to the life and times of Whitaker Wright at www.whitakerwright.co.uk
- Australian Prospectors & Miners Hall of Fame entry on Whitaker Wright
- The Guardian profile on Whitaker Wright
- BBC Southern Counties on Whitaker Wright
- Lost Heritage—Witley Park—History and Gallery
- Drawings, photographs, and editorial cartoons of Whitaker Wright