Introduction

Bankruptcy caught Samuel Bayly, one of early Victorian Bournemouth’s leading citizens, during 1856. The event attracted considerable press attention, coverage listing Bayly’s creditors as well as the amounts he owed. Publicity therefore inflicted damage to their reputations in addition to the missing money. Genealogical analysis adds texture to the press accounts, while further press details raise a question about the need for declaring bankruptcy.

Before the crash

Samuel Bayly: ‘Mr Bournemouth’

Bayly, a gentleman’s son, perhaps born in Blandford (1801), appears to have had a drapery business in Christchurch by 1830. By 1844, however, directory listings entered his name in the section reserved for better citizens, perhaps gentry. Later records indicate that he had built up a property portfolio in Christchurch as well as having a house at Hengistbury. An early investor at Bournemouth, he had a lease on 14 Westover Villas, already or soon after taking one on the Belle Vue. He became prominent in the new resort. For example, he chaired the dinner where Dr Granville delivered his positive analysis about the settlement’s suitability as an invalids’ convalescent site. Bayly played leading roles at the new church’s cornerstone ceremony, establishing the Hengist Masonic Lodge, raising funds for the pier and steering public investment meetings. Furthermore, he played a leading role in establishing Bournemouth’s Improvement Commission.

The tontine project: an early warning of bankruptcy?

In 1849, plans for a tontine having £10,500 capital appeared in the press. The specification limited participation to those aged at least 65 so that ‘the Tontine may terminate at an early period’. An impressive list of agents accompanied the advertisement. Bayly, then 48, seems to have had a central role in the project. The tontine’s security would appear to have consisted of his Bournemouth holdings – Belle Vue, 14 Westover Villas, ten shares in the baths – but perhaps also items in Christchurch – Masonic Hall, six houses, a chapel, and rights to 1000 acres’ pasturage. Bayly would act as manager, while his new brother-in-law and Belle Vue manager would become secretary. Neither of these linkages appeared in the advertisement. Financial problems may have brought him to the scheme as a temporary way to monetize his holdings. No further mention of it appeared, so perhaps he had no takers.

The crash

Trade creditors

The first meeting for proof of debts and choice of assignees to process Samuel Bayly’s bankruptcy occurred in autumn 1856. Almost 20 names populated the creditors’ list. About a third had businesses in Bournemouth, another third likewise in Poole and Christchurch. In most cases, further details have emerged about his creditors, enabling some idea of their social and commercial backgrounds. The businesses listed seem to fit with the Belle Vue as a customer: at Bournemouth, three grocers, a butcher, a baker, a draper as well as a builder. The Poole businesses consisted of two grocers and a coal merchant. Those at Christchurch followed the pattern: grocer, corn factor, and draper. On average, these apparent trade debts averaged almost £20. He also owed Henry Pigeon, a Southwark distiller, over £70, a Durweston brewer (Henry Godwin) and a Kinson maltster (Edwin Elliott), around £50 each.

Other creditors

Bayly had borrowed most from a widow and a married lady. The widow, Lydia Pike, had lent £172. Personal links connected Bayly to the Pikes, for Lydia’s husband appointed him as executor of his estate as long ago as 1823. He also owed £8 to Lydia’s son, a Christchurch grocer. The married lady, owed £100, Hannah Whittle, wife of a coal merchant, belonged to an established Poole family (Ozzards), busy a long time in the Newfoundland trade. Wealthy widows had long lent money to gain an income, but money from a wife seems curious. Some personal connection between Bayly and Hannah’s kinship group may have existed also. Neither of these loans, however, seem trade debts, so perhaps Bayly used personal connections as one way to stave off bankruptcy. Hence, he borrowed from both his business and personal networks.

After the crash

Explaining the bankruptcy

As the dust settled on Bayly’s bankruptcy, a curious fact emerged. Often, creditors can expect to receive the equivalent of a deep discount on their bill. The official assignee announced in October 1856 that, if the asset valuations held true, the process would realise more than twenty shillings per pound. This implies that Bayly perhaps had had no need to endanger his personal reputation by petitioning for bankruptcy. The diaries of Thomas Turner, an eighteenth-century grocer, show that some customers might settle bills only after extended periods. Bayly, therefore, may have exaggerated this behaviour to keep afloat. Bournemouth’s hothouse commercial atmosphere may have encouraged reckless trading. In the end, though, somebody who lost patience or had a pressing need for money brought down Bayly’s edifice. Fraud often floated over bankruptcy but no mention occurred at the time. Loose book-keeping and overtrading may have brought about the crash.

Peer judgement

Samuel Bayly died some eight years after his bankruptcy. The Poole & Dorset Herald ran a long and warm appreciation of the man during his funeral account, regretting the need to make such a notice. The copy referred to how he ‘labored with much assiduity and zeal, and at the sacrifice, too, of much valuable time and capital, to improve the place in every way in his power’. Moreover, he did not derive as much ‘pecuniary benefit’ as he had deserved from this investment. Shops closed during the funeral. A great number of Hengist members assembled in his honour, during which the Warden Master ‘adverted to the high character of their late brother Bayly’. So, his bankruptcy did not seem to have brought ridicule or animosity down upon Samuel Bayly. He had enough money to pay his debts and to stay in business afterwards. Nobody seemed to suffer long-term damage.

Takeaway

Details about the bankruptcy of Samuel Bayly throw light not only on supplier networks used by a leading business in Bournemouth, but also how he might depend on personal loans. In the end, a charge of accounting incompetence or perhaps too zealous trading might apply, but not fraud. Nor did it dim his memory amongst his peers. The bankruptcy seems more like a temporary obstacle rather than a social catastrophe.

References

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