Fordyce's failure and the bank run on Neale, James, Fordyce and Down
- When
- 8 June 1772
- Where
- London banking house of Neale, James, Fordyce and Down
- Part of
- Credit Crisis of 1772
Alexander Fordyce lost £300,000 shorting East India Company stock; his partners were left liable for roughly £243,000 in debts.
In 1771/1772 Fordyce bet heavily against East India Company share prices, a wager that went awry when the EIC stock price rose significantly in May 1772. On Monday 8 June 1772 it became clear that Fordyce had failed. He had lost £300,000 shorting EIC stock, leaving his partners Henry Neale, William James, and Richard Down liable for an estimated £243,000 in debts. The bank run on Neale, James, Fordyce and Down, in which Fordyce was centrally involved, led directly to the credit crisis of 1772.
Sources
- Alexander Fordyce Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-29
- British credit crisis of 1772–1773 Wikipedia
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.