As research continues into the early days of banking and
commerce it yields connections that become that much more interesting. The Hong
Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation apparently had many participants that
some of us would have never otherwise known had we not peered back into
history.
When reading about Augustine Heard & Co. Dent
& Co. is another firm that was mentioned.
“Dent & Co. played a role in the
founding of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in March 1863, for it
was the unofficial member of the Legaslative Council and chairman of the Bank’s
provisional committee, Francis Chomley of Dent’s who applied to the Governor
for a charter of incorporation in December 1864. Within two years, however, the
company began to wind up its business and sell off its assets. In 1866 Overend
and Gurney in the City of London floundered, touching off a run on the banks and
bringing down other businesses, including the overextended Dent’s, which folded
in 1867. The partner at the time, Alfred Dent, Thomas’s son and later a
business associate of Gustav Van Overbeck said, ‘It was a bitter moment when we
had to haul down the old house flag.”
Thomas Sutherland, Arthur Sassoon, Berenberg
Bank, Augustine Heard & Co., and now Dent & Co. were all players during
the founding of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
Until next time …
Cue-Talks: A Connection Between Banking and Trading Houses
What Matters - Augustine Heard & Co. (google.com)
Intelligent Publishing on X: ""Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. ... By virtue of the activities of the bank abroad it became a founding shareholder of the ... the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC (1865), ... " 🤔 p. 10 The bank in the period of promoterism https://t.co/FxqDJ0oJ9m https://t.co/uJdpuuYt6Q" / X (twitter.com)
Intelligent Publishing on X: ""There are six foreign banks in Hamburg, including the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation; the Berenbergs were among its founding shareholders back in 1865. p. 236 https://t.co/YudRXcOANu" / X (twitter.com)
What Matters - Sir Thomas Sutherland and the Board of HSBC (google.com)
What Matters - Dent & Company (google.com)
References
Farmer, H. (2018). Dent & Company’s early days
in China and John Dent. Hong Kong: The Industrial History of Hong Kong
Group. Retrieved November 9, 2023, from
https://industrialhistoryhk.org/john-dent/
