Overend, Gurney and Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Overend, Gurney & Company was a London discount bank, known as "the bankers' bank", which collapsed in 1866 owing about 11 million pounds. The business was founded in 1800 as Richardson, Overend and Company by Thomas Richardson of London and John Overend of Nottingham. Samuel Gurney (1786-1856), a Norwich banker later took control of the bank.

The business became a limited company in 1865 but suspended payments the on 11 May 1866. The directors of the company were tried for fraud.

The financial crisis following the collapse saw the bank rate rise to 10 per cent for three months. More than 200 companies, including other banks, failed as a result.

[edit] Bibliography

• Collins, M. (1992) "Overend Gurney crisis, 1866", in Newman, P. (ed.) (1992). The New Palgrave Dictionary of Money and Finance. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-52722-4.
• Patterson, R.H. (1866). "The Panic in the City". Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine 100: 79.
• Taylor, J. (2003). Limited liability on trial: the commercial crisis of 1866 and its aftermath. Retrieved on 2006-07-04.