Letter to the proprietors of Messrs. Douglas, Heron, and Company. : My Lords and gentlemen, the late investigation of the management of your affairs, having been made by partners who never were themselves in the direction, it is not to be wondered, that they should, in many instances, have misunderstood transactions, ...
Fordyce, John(Banker)
[Edinburgh? : s.n.,
1779]
Caption title.
Signed on p. 47: John Fordyce.
Dated at head of caption title: March 12. 1779.
John Fordyce was a banker from Edinburgh. Douglas, Heron & Company, with its head office at Ayr, was opened in 1769 and traded as the Ayr Bank. There were branches throughout Scotland. Almost from the beginning, the bank emptied their coffers by giving privileged customers excessive loans, later striving to make good their position by making paper money. In August 1773 a general meeting of the partners resolved on liquidation. The total loss to the partners, of whom there were 225, was £663,396, and the shock was felt throughout Scotland.
ESTC
Douglas, Heron, and Company
Bank fraud
Bankruptcy
Scotland Edinburgh.