Whitaker Wright by Harry Furniss pen and ink, 1880s-1900s. NPG 3534 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Few people have led such an extraordinary life as
Whitaker Wright (1846-1904). Few
have died in such sensational circumstances. He began his career as
an impoverished Methodist preacher in the North Country. Swapping God for
Mammon, he went to America and made millions prospecting for gold and
silver in the Rockies. Losing the lot, he returned to England in disgrace,
leaving behind a trail of angry investors. Australian gold was his new
route to riches, and within five years he was Britain’s wealthiest man. He
became friends with the Prince of Wales and the Kaiser, bought Gladstone’s
mansion in Park Lane, acquired a French mistress, and built the ultimate
folly — a glass underwater smoking room beneath a Surrey lake. On the last
trading day of the 19th century, his empire went bust, ruining thousands of
people. He fled to New York with his niece, but Scotland Yard caught up
with him and brought him back to London. At the end of what the press
dubbed ‘the most dramatic trial of modern times’ there was a shocking twist
to his remarkable story…
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