| Level | Item |
| Reference Number (click to see whole series/group) | G1/382 |
| Extent | 1 file |
| Title | GOVERNOR'S FILE: CLARENCE CHARLES HATRY |
| Date | 19 Sep 1929 - 21 Nov 1932 |
| Admin History | Hatry was a company promoter who after a number of false starts put together the Drapery Trust, a group of provincial department stores which were on-sold to Debenhams. In 1926 he set up an issuing house specialising in the issuing and registration of corporation stocks. In 1928-29 he promoted a number of companies including Photomaton (automatic photographic machines), Allied Ironfounders and Iron Industries. When their shares began to slide in 1929, he raised money from a wide range of banks by creating fraudulent renounceable letters of allotment in respect of stocks issued through his issuing house. These were used as collateral to raise money from a large number of banks. This manoeuvre brought only temporary respite and the group collapsed with a deficiency of £14m. The frauds came to light when Hatry confessed to Sir Gilbert Garnsey of Price Waterhouse (who had been commissioned by certain bank lenders to report on the group). |
| Description | The file includes a record of the initial meeting at the Bank at which Garnsey briefed the Governors, representatives of the clearers and the Stock Exchange, subsequent endeavours to quantify the damage, press reports of Hatry's trial, papers relating to the arrangements to protect small investors who had bought false RLAs and the report of the Stock Exchange Committee set up in the wake of the affair. |
| Related Material | See also G3/195 for Hatry's discussions with Montagu Collet Norman on United Steel scheme, June 1929. |
| Original Reference | S69 |