The Great Fraud on the Bank of England
Robert Hale has bought David C. Hanrahan’s next book The Great Fraud on the Bank of England which tells, for the first time, the fascinating story of how four American criminals managed to pull off the most notorious crime of Victorian Britain.
In 1873 the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, as the Bank of England is known, was defrauded of over $1,000,000, a financial crime of unprecedented proportions. When the scale of the fraud eventually came to light, it caused a huge sensation not only in London, but around the world and on the financial markets.
Every detail of the story was covered in minute detail by the major newspapers and journals of the time, including The Times in London and The New York Times. This amazing fraud was planned and executed by two brothers, George and Austin Bidwell, along with their accomplices, George MacDonald and Edwin Noyes Hills. Hanrahan’s book details the interesting and surprising backgrounds of these American criminals, their meticulous preparation for the crime, the life of luxury they lived in London from the proceeds of the fraud and the simple clerical error that finally brought their criminal activities to an end.
The historian David C. Hanrahan was born in London in 1963 and lives at present in the west of Ireland. He has been a head master and lectures at the School of Education in the National University of Ireland, Galway. His books focus upon unique, “one-off” events that have occurred in British history with a special focus upon True Crime.
Rob