Overend Gurney: Black Friday 1866, When the Bankers' Bank Fell

Overend, Gurney & Co. and the Panic of 1866: the run on London's "bankers' bank", Black Friday 11 May 1866, the Bank of England's response and Walter Bagehot's lender-of-last-resort rule. "A severe run on our deposits has compelled us to suspend payment." What happened when the bank behind the banks stopped paying? This episode follows the story: how a London bill broker backed by a Quaker banking family from Norwich became the greatest discount house in the world; the Bank of England's 1858 rule and Overend, Gurney's failed raid on the Bank in 1860; a new generation, an adviser paid twice, and years of reckless loans; the 1865 sale to the public as a limited company; the rumours, the run and the refusal; Black Friday; the Bank's record lending, the Chancellor's letter and ten per cent interest for ninety-five days; who paid, from the shareholders to the directors acquitted at the Old Bailey in 1869; and how Walter Bagehot turned the crisis into his rule for lenders of last resort in "Lombard Street" (1873). We show where the sources disagree: when the Gurneys' Norwich bank opened (1770 or 1775), the size of the 1860 raid (Bagehot's £3 million or the Bank's own £1.4 million), how much Overend, Gurney owed (about £11 million, £18.7 million, or "some ten millions"), the Bank's reserve on the morning of 11 May, and how badly the wider economy suffered. Barclays and the Bank of England are mentioned only as history; nothing here is financial advice. Earlier: The Ice King (Frederic Tudor):    • Frederic Tudor, the Ice King: How Frozen P...   Forgotten Ledgers tells the little-known stories behind business history. No ads, no sponsors — just the story. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open: the notice on the door 0:43 The bankers' bank 1:49 A Quaker name 2:30 The raid on the Bank 3:38 The new generation 4:37 Selling the house 5:54 Rumours 6:55 Black Friday 7:43 The Bank lends 8:49 Ten per cent 9:34 Who paid 10:25 Bagehot's rule 11:35 After 12:17 End Support the channel (viewer-funded only): Ko-fi (one-time or monthly): https://ko-fi.com/forgottenledgers USDT (TRC20 network only): TMmDGBC1HVWexCdsFGQLohBkots9omUtvs Main sources R. Sowerbutts, M. Schneebalg and F. Hubert, "The demise of Overend Gurney", Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin 2016 Q2 Walter Bagehot, "Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market" (1873) Sabine Schneider, "The politics of last resort lending and the Overend & Gurney crisis of 1866", Economic History Review 75.2 (2022) Newspaper cuttings, London, 12 May 1866 (Wellcome Collection) Wikipedia: "Overend, Gurney and Company", "Panic of 1866", "Gurney's Bank", "Samuel Gurney", "Millwall Iron Works" Narration voice: Azure AI Speech (synthetic voice). Script researched and written for this channel. Image credits (CC-licensed): A London newspaper leader, Saturday 12 May 1866 (Wellcome Collection): Unknown, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... "The Scene in the City", London newspaper, May 1866 (Wellcome Collection): Unknown, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Customers outside a Northern Rock branch in Brighton, September 2007: Dominic Alves from Brighton, England, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... The corner of Lombard Street and Birchin Lane today: Stephen Craven, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Other archival images: public domain or no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons (full list in the project files). Maps and graphics: our own (Natural Earth coastlines). Music: "Disquiet" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... #history #businesshistory #documentary