Clarence Hatry
Clarence Charles Hatry | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 16, 1888 Hampstead, London, England |
| Died | June 10, 1965 (aged 76) |
| Occupation(s) | Financier, company promoter, publisher, bookseller |
| Known for | Downfall of the Hatry group influencing the Wall Street crash of 1929 |
Clarence Charles Hatry (16 December 1888 – 10 June 1965) was an English financier, company promoter, publisher, bookseller, and bankrupt. The downfall of the Hatry group in September 1929, which was valued at approximately £24 million (), is regarded as one of the elements that influenced the Wall Street crash of 1929.
Economist John Kenneth Galbraith characterized Hatry as "one of those curiously un-English figures with whom the English periodically find themselves unable to cope."
Business ascent
Originating from Hampstead, London, Hatry commenced his career as an insurance clerk in London's West End. His initial significant profit came from the silk trade, and he overcame bankruptcy by acquiring City Equitable, a reinsurance firm, in 1914 for £60,000 and subsequently reorganizing it before selling a controlling stake for £250,000 ().
During the First World War, Hatry seized various opportunities and by 1921 had become a director in fifteen companies. He also attracted attention in the United States for facilitating transportation of immigrants from Eastern Europe.
In 1924, his Commercial Corporation of London collapsed with losses amounting to $3.75 million (). Despite enduring several bankruptcies, he reconstructed his business empire through investments in sectors such as photographic equipment, cameras, vending machines, department stores, and loan agencies.
By early 1929, the companies within the Hatry group that appealed to investors included General Securities Ltd. (with Henry Paulet, 16th Marquess of Winchester as chairman), Austin Friars Trust Ltd., Dundee Trust, Oak Investment Corp., Associated Automatic Machines Corp., Retail Trade Corp., Photomaton Parent Corp., and Far Eastern Photomaton Corp.
Founded by Hatry in 1928, Photomaton Parent Corporation Limited operated automated photo booths located in public spaces such as railway stations and amusement parks.
In 1929, Hatry had arranged a significant $40 million merger involving steel and iron enterprises to form United Steel Companies. However, just before finalizing the transaction, the Stock Exchange Committee discovered that he had secured a $1 million () loan backed by worthless securities. This revelation on 20 September 1929 triggered the collapse of Hatry's business empire.
Private life
Hatry was known for ostentatiously displaying his wealth: his office included lavish bathrooms, and his Mayfair residences featured swimming pools. Additionally, he owned a yacht and maintained a racing stable.
He possessed the Westward, once the largest yacht in British waters from 1919 to 1924, and was reputed to dive from its bowsprit. An avid swimmer himself, he remarked that "swimming is the only sport that I, personally, enjoy."
Between 1922 and 1926, Hatry resided at 56 Upper Brook Street—previously home to economist David Ricardo—which boasted London's sole rooftop swimming pool where he hosted bathing-suit gatherings.
From 1924 until 1929, he lived at 5 Great Stanhope Street in Mayfair near Mary, Princess Royal’s mansion. There he invested £70,000 in lavish renovations including a swimming pool on the main bedroom floor and a Tudor-style cocktail bar in the sub-basement named "Ye Old Stanhope Arms-Free House." Up until his incarceration, Hatry maintained a daily year-round swimming routine. Despite this extravagant lifestyle, contemporaries described him as a "sallow, baldish, unhealthy-looking little man."
Collapse
Towards the end of August 1929, Hatry asserted that he had discreetly approached Bank of England Governor Montagu Norman seeking financial support to finalize a merger with United Steel Companies. Norman declined the request for a bridge loan. By 17 September, Hatry’s debts had escalated to £19 million, while his assets were valued at only £4 million. On 19 September, following an unsuccessful effort to obtain funding from Lloyds Bank, Hatry brought in accountant Sir Gilbert Garnsey to assist.
Hatry did not inform Garnsey that he had fraudulently issued duplicate share certificates as collateral to several banks. Additionally, he had obtained a $1 million loan by using counterfeit bearer scrip certificates representing City of Wakefield stock, a deception uncovered by a vigilant clerk.
Garnsey’s second appeal to Norman for urgent financing was again rejected. Subsequently, Norman notified the chairman of the London Stock Exchange that Hatry’s enterprise was insolvent. Trading in Hatry shares was halted on 20 September.
On that same day, the London Stock Exchange suspended all shares connected to the Hatry group, which were then worth approximately £24 million. Hatry and his principal collaborators admitted to charges of fraud and forgery before Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Archibald Bodkin and were promptly incarcerated.
The Wall Street Crash occurred later the following month.
Legal proceedings and sentencing
In December 1929, Hatry was prosecuted alongside Albert Edward Tabor, Edmund Daniels, and Charles Graham Dixon at the Old Bailey on counts of forgery and fraud. Supporters raised $95,000 () to finance his legal defence.
During his defence, Hatry made an emotional statement:
He received a sentence of 14 years imprisonment, including two years of hard labour, served at Brixton Prison. Initially subjected to severe conditions such as sleeping on bare boards and breaking rocks, he later worked on mail bag production and served as the prison librarian.
Hatry was released after serving nine years in custody, with assistance from his barrister Norman Birkett, K.C., whose involvement is chronicled in H. Montgomery Hyde’s 1964 biography Norman Birkett.
Resurgence
Following his release in 1939, Hatry acquired Hatchards bookshop for £6,000 and successfully turned around the faltering enterprise.[1] In 1946, he purchased the publishing house T. Werner Laurie Ltd., appointing George Greenfield as its manager.[2][3]
Hatry passed away in 1965 at the age of 76.
Bibliography
- The "Hatry Case": Eight Current Misconceptions (C. Nicholls & Co.: London, 1938)
- Light out of Darkness: On the Redistribution of Populations As a Solution to the Economic Problems of the World (Rich & Cowan: London, 1939)
- A. Wright, The Threadbare Plea: The Hatry Crash of 1929 (2018)