The Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814 was a hoax or fraud centered on false information about the then-ongoing Napoleonic Wars. A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ... The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule over France. ...

On the morning of Monday February 21, 1814, a uniformed man posing as Colonel du Bourg, aide-du-camp to Lord Cathcart, arrived at the Ship Inn at Dover, England, bearing news that Napoleon I of France had been killed and the Bourbons were victorious. Requesting that this information be relayed on to the Admiralty in London via telegram, du Bourg proceeded on toward London, stopping at each inn on the way to spread the good news. At about noon, confirmation for du Bourg's news of peace arrived in the form of another coach which circulated throughout London, bearing three French officers who distributed leaflets celebrating the Bourbon victory. February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1814 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Map sources for Dover at grid reference TR315415 Arms of Dover Borough Council This article is about the English port town. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK... Napoleon I of France, by Jacques-Louis David Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution, and the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November 1799 to 18 May 1804, then as Emperor of the... The House of Bourbon is an important European royal house. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7. ...

Rumors of Napoleon's defeat had been circulating throughout the month, and the combined events had a significant impact on the London Stock Exchange. The value of government securities soared in the morning, after the news from Dover began to circulate among traders at the Exchange. Lacking official confirmation of the news, prices began to slide after the initial rush, only to be further propped up at noon by the French officers and their handbills. The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ... Security is a type of transferable interest representing financial value. ...

However, the entire affair was a deliberate hoax. In the afternoon, a messenger arrived from the government offices to report that the whole affair had been a fraud, and the stocks which had soared immediately sank to their previous levels.

The Committee of the Stock Exchange, suspecting deliberate stock manipulation, launched an investigation into the hoax. It was soon discovered that three people together were responsible for the sale that Monday of more than £1.1 million of two government-based stocks, most of it purchased the previous week. The three traders were Lord Cochrane, member of Parliament and well-known naval hero, his uncle the Hon. Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone, and Richard Butt, Lord Cochrane's financial advisor. Additional evidence, including the arrest of a Captain Random de Berenger who had posed both as du Bourg and as one of the "French officers," helped return a guilty verdict against the fraud's players in the eventual court case. The chief conspirators were sentenced to 12 months of prison time, a fine of £1,000 each, and an hour in the public pillory. Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a politician and naval adventurer. ...

External links

• Civilising Mammon: Fraud and Profit in Nineteenth-Century London

References

• Yapp, Nick. Great Hoaxes of the World (and the hoaxers behind them). Robson Books. 1995.