Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Ultimate Folly: The Rises and Falls of Whitaker Wright
    Unavailable
    Ultimate Folly: The Rises and Falls of Whitaker Wright
    Unavailable
    Ultimate Folly: The Rises and Falls of Whitaker Wright
    Ebook362 pages5 hours

    Ultimate Folly: The Rises and Falls of Whitaker Wright

    By Henry Macrory

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A gripping story of greed, treachery and ruthless ambition.

    Few people have led such an extraordinary life as Whitaker Wright. Few have died in such sensational circumstances. Beginning his career as an impoverished preacher, Wright crossed the Atlantic to prospect for gold, surviving a Native American massacre before he made his fortune. Then the bubble burst. Leaving behind a string of angry investors, he fled to England to start again. Soon he was one of the world’s richest men.

    At his 10,000-acre estate in Surrey, he employed an entourage of seventy-seven staff, moved a hill that blocked his view and built an underwater glass smoking room. On his vast steam yacht, he entertained the Prince of Wales, the Kaiser and half of Britain’s aristocracy.

    His downfall was as dramatic as his ascent. On the last trading day of the nineteenth century, his financial empire – which he had propped up by cooking the books – went belly up. This time, the trail of furious investors stretched all the way to the Prime Minister. With the police in hot pursuit, Wright fled to New York, but his escape was short-lived. At the end of what the press dubbed ‘the most dramatic trial of modern times’ he was sentenced to seven years in jail. Minutes later, he sprang a last dreadful surprise...

    Other great swindlers have followed in Wright’s footsteps, but none have surpassed him in daring and shamelessness. Drawing on family papers and archives from around the world, this compelling account of Wright’s life reads like a thriller and offers an insight into the mind of the ultimate gambler and conman.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBiteback Publishing
    Release dateJun 12, 2018
    ISBN9781785903922
    Unavailable
    Ultimate Folly: The Rises and Falls of Whitaker Wright
    Author

    Henry Macrory

    During a long Fleet Street career, Henry Macrory was deputy editor and acting editor of the Sunday Express. For several years he was a Westminster-based political correspondent. He moved from newspapers into political communications and worked in 10 Downing Street for the Coalition Government. He now lives in Oxford and specialises in writing family histories.

    Read more from Henry Macrory

    Related to Ultimate Folly

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      ...thomas And Jean Weir

      Aug 12, 2023

      ...thomas And Jean Weir
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Best Books Of The Year

      Dec 13, 2023

      The Best Books Of The Year
      8 min read

    • Article

      History

      Jun 29, 2022

      History
      11 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Dec 2, 2021

      Book Film TV Podcast Games Other A riveting medieval ‘Me Too’ story Certificate: 18 Director: Ridley Scott Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer Released: Out now On 29 December 1386, in a frosty field on the outskirts of northern Paris, the las

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Tichborne Case

      Mar 8, 2024

      The Tichborne Case
      5 min read

    • Article

      The History Behind The Last Duel

      Oct 29, 2021

      The History Behind The Last Duel
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Supreme Act Of Trust

      Aug 10, 2022

      The Supreme Act Of Trust
      5 min read

    • Article

      History

      Jun 30, 2021

      A NEW HISTORY OF VIKINGS FROM SCANDINAVIA TO THE SILK ROADS CAT JARMAN Wm Collins, 336pp, £25 As a 17-year-old, Financial Times reviewer William Dalrymple was one of ten diggers who made an important archaeological discovery in a vicar’s garden near

      11 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Sep 10, 2020

      A possible case of identity theft (Noel Rooney, “The Man Who Would Be Q”, FT395:42-44) involves reclusive American chess genius, madman, and Fortean Times namesake Bobby Fischer (1943-2008), who certainly haunted a generation of chess players. Around

      18 min read

    • Article

      The Misunderstood Queen

      Aug 3, 2022

      The Misunderstood Queen
      5 min read

    • Article

      History

      Sep 21, 2022

      History
      14 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Jan 27, 2022

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      Blue Bloods

      Apr 13, 2023

      Blue Bloods
      7 min read

    • Article

      Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose

      May 4, 2022

      Headline £20 In February 1485, Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, wrote a letter to the Duke of Norfolk. Elizabeth had, along with her brothers and her mother, been dispossessed and dishonoured by her uncle, Richard. He had declared his brothe

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Potter For Our Times

      Sep 1, 2021

      WHEN perusing this attractively packaged biography of ceramics impresario Josiah Wedgwood (1730–95), your reviewer was prompted to recall one of the few joyous moments of lockdown, Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down (GPTD): a show that reveals

      5 min read

    • Article

      Quotients

      May 7, 2020

      Quotients
      8 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading room

      Nov 27, 2019

      THE Reading room
      7 min read

    • Article

      They Were One-offs

      Apr 6, 2022

      HOW I wish I’d written this book! Matthew Kelly celebrates four women whose work created the organisations and attitudes to conservation we take for granted today. Two are well known, two are not; all their stories enrich us. The well-known two are O

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Tichborne Claiment

      Nov 2, 2023

      The Tichborne Claiment
      7 min read

    • Article

      Coronavirus Reading List: Joyful Books For Dark, Lonely Times – open Thread

      Mar 9, 2020

      Guardian Australia staff nominate the best books to escape into when the world is in despair – or when you’re in quarantine. Share yours in the comments

      3 min read

    • Article

      Biography & memoir

      Sep 21, 2022

      Biography & memoir
      10 min read

    • Article

      A Jolly Roger Of A Good Read

      Feb 11, 2021

      Readers are in for a rollicking time with these tales of mutiny and plunder on the high seas. This is a new, abridged edition of a book first published in 1734, with an introduction and potted history of piracy by historian and presenter Dr Sam Willi

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Murder The Strange Case Of Walter Sickert And Jack The Ripper

      May 19, 2022

      Whitechapel, London, the autumn of 1888. Through the midnight streets stalks a dark figure, wrapped in a long, checkered coat. As the secretive figure makes his way along Copenhagen Street, he attracts the attention of a group of young girls. Talk of

      15 min read

    • Article

      Victorian Style Scandal

      Aug 13, 2022

      Tangled Souls: love and scandal among the Victorian aristocracy Jane Dismore The History Press, 2022 pp. 326 Hardback, £20.00; paperback, N/A; (Kindle £12.99) ISBN: 978-0750996624; 0750996625 Imagine: a bright young dashing politician, who thinks hi

      5 min read

    Reviews for Ultimate Folly

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words