Merchant Princes and Charlatans or Makers of Money? : Decoding Icons of Nineteenth Century British and International Finance

This book provides a critical analysis of visual images of British and international finance during the nineteenth century. Its focus is on the financiers themselves, contrasting the depiction of the respectable Merchant Princes with the less than perfect charlatans (white-collar criminals) who defrauded investors of millions. The breakdown of trust between financiers and investors that evolved during this period is represented visually in depictions of the emotional response of investors to the uncertain financial climate. Throughout the book a PEARL methodology has been used to critique the images reflecting the impact of any Publishers political bias, the Editorial and Artistic techniques used to convey the messages in the images, and the Legal context (especially a concern in countries such as France and Germany where censorship was strict). The book concludes that white-collar criminals were invariably secretly admired in Britain, and rarely severely satirised. Similarly, Merchant Princes were depicted favourably in Britain as members of the ruling elite during the latter half of the century. This is contrasted with the more extreme anti-monopolistic images in the US and the extreme anti-Semitic treatment of Jewish financiers in France and Germany. Henry Sless is currently a Research Associate at Henley Business School at the University of Reading, UK. He received a Masters in historical cartoons from the University of Kent, UK, and a doctorate in visual images of finance in the Victorian era from the University of Reading Acknowledgements 5 Key Books/Articles Per Chapter 6 Key Words 9 Contents 15 About the Author 16 Abbreviations 17 List of Figures 18 List of Tables 27 1 Introduction 28 2 Financial Context 38 2.1 Introduction 38 2.2 Financial Crises and Their Causes 39 2.3 Gambling and Speculation 42 2.4 The Impact of Government Laissez-Faire Business Policies 43 2.5 Banking and Corporate Law Regulation 43 2.6 Emerging Role of the Bank of England 45 2.7 The Role of the Press 46 2.8 Business Morality 47 2.9 Gentlemanly Capitalists 50 2.10 The Financial Events to Be Covered 51 2.11 Conclusion 54 3 Visual Context 61 3.1 Introduction 61 3.2 Image Analysis 62 3.2.1 PEARL Template 62 3.2.2 Publisher/Political Bias 63 3.2.3 Editorial Input 64 3.2.4 Artistic Style 65 Overlap Between Cartoonists and Painters 65 Stylistic Devices 65 Photographs/Portraits 65 3.2.5 Readership 67 3.2.6 Legal 68 3.3 Image Theory 69 3.3.1 Use as Historical Evidence 69 3.3.2 Cartoonists’ Armoury 70 3.3.3 Memory—Repetition 71 3.4 The International Dimension 72 3.4.1 British Caricature 72 3.4.2 French Caricature 73 3.4.3 German Caricature 73 3.4.4 US Caricature 74 3.5 Financial Iconography 75 3.5.1 Research into Pre Nineteenth-Century Examples 75 3.5.2 Research into Nineteenth-Century Examples 76 3.6 Literature and Finance 77 3.7 Conclusion 78 4 The Merchant Princes and the Makers of Money 85 4.1 Introduction 85 4.2 Pre-Victorian Era 86 4.2.1 Background on Representations of Financial Figures During the Pre-Victorian Period 86 4.2.2 Nathan Rothschild 87 4.2.3 Harriot Coutts 91 4.3 Victorian Era 97 4.3.1 The Caricatures in Vanity Fair 97 4.3.2 The Rothschilds 102 Lionel Nathan Rothschild 102 4.3.3 The Barings 106 Lord Revelstoke 106 Mr Liddderdale 106 4.3.4 Other Bankers and Financiers 111 Sir Ernest Cassel 111 The Retail Bankers 111 The Private Bankers 115 The Prime Ministers 116 Other Chancellors of the Exchequer 119 The Stockbrokers 126 The Gamblers 131 4.4 Conclusion 136 5 The Charlatans 140 5.1 Introduction 140 5.2 Pre-Victorian Figures 142 5.2.1 Lord Cochrane 142 5.3 Victorian Figures 143 5.3.1 George Hudson 143 5.3.2 Leopold Redpath 150 5.3.3 Albert Grant 153 5.3.4 Harry Benson 156 5.3.5 CGB Directors 159 5.3.6 Harry Marks 161 5.3.7 Jabez Balfour 163 5.3.8 Ernest Hooley 165 5.4 Conclusion 169 6 Financial Iconography 175 6.1 Introduction 175 6.2 The Iconography 178 6.2.1 Balloons/puffs 178 6.2.2 Frenzy 179 6.2.3 Financial Institutions 191 6.2.4 Stock Exchange Terminology 195 6.2.5 Victims/villains 207 6.3 Conclusion 224 7 Women 229 7.1 Introduction 229 7.1.1 The Role of Women 229 Bankers, Philanthropists 229 Goddesses of Justice 229 The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street 229 Investors 229 Marriage 229 7.2 Bankers, Philanthropists 231 7.2.1 Harriot Coutts 231 7.2.2 Angela Burdett-Coutts 232 7.3 Goddesses 238 7.4 The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street 240 7.5 Investors 250 7.6 Marriage 251 7.7 Conclusion 257 8 The Other 260 8.1 Introduction 260 8.2 Pre-Victorian 262 8.2.1 The Jews 262 Matchstick Figures 262 Crude Caricature 262 8.3 Victorian 266 8.3.1 The Rothschilds 266 8.3.2 Other Jewish Financiers 269 Baron Hirsch 269 Lionel Louis Cohen 269 Disraeli 269 8.4 European 272 8.4.1 Anti-Semitism 272 8.4.2 Germany 274 8.4.3 France 276 8.4.4 USA 282 8.5 Jews and Money 282 8.6 The Scots 286 8.7 The Irish 288 8.8 Conclusion 290 9 The Law 296 9.1 Introduction 296 9.2 Depiction of the Emotional Response 296 9.2.1 The Image of the Stocks 297 9.2.2 The Image of the Goddess of Justice 297 9.3 Depiction of the Legal Process 304 9.3.1 Leopold Redpath 304 9.3.2 The Trial of the Scotland Yard Detectives (the Harry Benson Case) 305 9.3.3 The CGB Failure 307 9.3.4 Jabez Balfour 324 9.3.5 Ernest Hooley 327 9.4 Cross-Over Between Realism and Comedy 330 9.4.1 Frith 330 9.4.2 Sullivan 331 9.5 Conclusion 333 10 Conclusion 336 10.1 Themes 336 10.1.1 The Charlatans and Merchant Princes 336 10.1.2 Iconography 337 10.1.3 International 337 10.1.4 Women 337 10.1.5 The Other 338 10.1.6 The Law 339 10.2 Pearl 339 10.2.1 Publishers’ Political Bias 339 10.2.2 Editorial Techniques 340 10.2.3 Artistic Techniques 340 10.2.4 Readers’ Response 340 10.2.5 Legal 341 10.3 Future Areas of Research 341 Appendix 1: Analysis of Moon-Rise and Sun-Set 343 Stages in Review 343 Description of Print 344 The Title(s) 346 Publisher 346 Artist 346 Date 346 Size 347 Reader 347 Major Themes 347 Historical Context 347 Artistic Devices 348 Juxtaposition (Paper v Gold/Sun vs Moon) 348 Moon-Shine 350 John Bull 350 Geographical Turn 350 Conclusion 352 Appendix 2: List of Victorian Periodicals 353 Appendix 3: Analysis of Vanity Fair Caricatures 355