South Sea Companv

Partial-Printed DS

Ca. 1718-1726

England

Managing the South Sea Bubble

Managing the South Sea Bubble

This group of three documents relates to the South See Company, officially "The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery." The British joint-stock company was founded in 1711 as a public-private partnership to consolidate and reduce the national debt. The company granted a monopoly on supplying African slaves to South America. Because Spain and Portugal controlled most of that continent, the Company never realized any significant profit from the monopoly, but the company stock still rose in value until 1720, when it collapsed. The economic bubble, which ruined thousands of investors, became known as the South Sea Bubble. The famed scientist Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) lost most of his wealth in the South Sea Bubble.

[SOUTH SEA COMPANY.] Archive of 3 documents, 1718-1726. All documents are mounted to backing paper; wax seals on earlier power of attorney are mostly intact; very good.

Individual documents include:

• Richard Reynolds, Thomas Ball, Squire Payne, and Richard Cumberland, Partially Printed Document Signed, Power of Attorney to John Payne, November 20, 1718, 1 p., 8.25" x 13.25"

Richard Reynolds, Thomas Ball, Squire Payne, and Richard Cumberland were the executors of the will of Richard late Lord Bishop of Peterborough. With this document they gave "Citizen and Apothecary" John Payne of London the power to sell, assign, or transfer any stock in the South Sea Company owned by the Lord Bishop.

Richard Cumberland (1631-1718) was an English philosopher and the Bishop of Peterborough in the Church of England from 1691 until his death. As the Bishop of Peterborough, he sat in the House of Lords as one of the Lords Spiritual.

• Mary Langham, Letter Signed, to Conrade de Gols, June 1, 1721, Kempston. 1 p.,

6.125" × 7.75".

Complete Transcript

Sr

Please to place to the account of my Grandson John Cater Esar all such stock as is due to me for five hundred pounds paid in upon the third Subscription of sale of South Sea Stock, & this shall be a Sufficient Warrant to you, From yor Humble Servt Mary Langham Kempston

1 June 1721

To Conrade de Gols Esgr

Treasurer to the South Sea Company

Witness / Rose Hartshorne

Conrade de Gols (d. 1738) worked at the Bank of England from at least 1706 to February 1721, when he succeeded Robert Knight as treasurer of the South Sea Company. Knight had fled to continental Europe when the South Sea Bubble burst. De Gols continued as Cashier of the South Sea Company for more than a decade.

• William Raper, Partially Printed Document Signed, Power of Attorney to John Walkingame, September 13, 1726, 1 p., 9.375" × 14.75"

William Raper of Oundle used this document to authorize John Walkingame of Bloomsbury, London, to sell, assign, or transfer f40 of his stock in the South Sea Company.

William Raper (1674-1746) is buried in the Church of St. Peter in Oundle. His gravestone reports that he "studied physick all his life, not to profit but for the pleasure of doing good."

John Walkingame (d. 1751) was the agent of the water works in London and the father of schoolmaster and author Francis Walkingame (1723-1785).