4872 x 3336 px | 41,2 x 28,2 cm | 16,2 x 11,1 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
1906
Altre informazioni:
Questa immagine potrebbe avere delle imperfezioni perché è storica o di reportage.
From an original illustration Cassell's Illustrated History of England pub 1906 After Edward Matthew Ward (1816-1879. Info From Historic-uk, com: In 1720, in return for a loan of £7 million to finance the war against France, the House of Lords passed the South Sea Bill, which allowed the South Sea Company a monopoly in trade with South America. The company underwrote the English National Debt, which stood at £30 million, on a promise of 5% interest from the Government. Shares immediately rose to 10 times their value, speculation ran wild and all sorts of companies, some lunatic, some fraudulent or just optimistic were launched. One company floated was to buy the Irish Bogs, another to manufacture a gun to fire square cannon balls and the most ludicrous of all "For carrying-on an undertaking of great advantage but no-one to know what it is!!" Unbelievably £2000 was invested in this one! The country went wild, stocks increased in all these and other 'dodgy' schemes, and huge fortunes were made. Then the 'bubble' burst! The stocks crashed and people all over the country lost all of their money. Porters and ladies maids who had bought their own carriages became destitute almost overnight. The Clergy, Bishops and the Gentry lost their life savings; the whole country suffered a catastrophic loss of money and property. Eventually Robert Walpole widely regarded as the first Prime Minister was given the task of cleaning up the mess.
