Alexander Bruce
Epithet: Banker and entrepreneur (1843-1900)
Record type: Biographies
Biography: From ‘New Manx Worthies’ (2006):
The bursting of the South Sea Bubble in 1780 is the stuff of legend, as is the sudden recession in America in the 1930s and, in the Island, the crash of the Savings and Investment Bank in the early 1980s. However, it is doubtful if, comparatively speaking, there has been a financial collapse that created more shock and misery than the closing of the doors of Dumbell's Bank on 3rd February 1900. The managing director of Dumbell’s was Alexander Bruce.
Bruce was an exceptionally bright trainee in the City of Glasgow Bank in the late 1850s. It was obvious that he was destined for great things, and as a young man he was posted to Douglas to take up a senior position with the bank's subsidiary, the Bank of Mona, from which he was quickly promoted to manager of the Ramsey branch. However, the collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank in 1878 led in turn to the closure of the Bank of Mona.
By this time Bruce had earned a solid reputation, and not only did the depositors send him a vote of sympathy, but his name was brought to the attention of the owner of the largest Island bank, George William Dumbell. Dumbell immediately engaged his services and appointed him as his general manager in 1878.
Dumbell was a businessman of real substance. His interests stretched from Cornwall to Northern Ireland, but he had made the Isle of Man his headquarters. He had given his full financial backing to the Laxey Mines and Lady Isabella [Laxey Wheel] project, and he was chairman of the directors of the Laxey Mines Company at the opening of the wheel in 1854. The bank he controlled catered for some 8000 depositors, in other words a large proportion of the Manx who were able to afford bank accounts. For Bruce it promised a golden future. His financial and civic influence grew steadily. Among other interests, he was appointed chairman of the Electric Tramway Company, helping to plan its extensions and the Snaefell Mountain Railway. He was also chairman of the Electric Power Company. He was appointed to the prestigious position of Douglas Borough Treasurer in 1892, and as a JP in 1893.
But though it was hardly noticed at first, by the early '90s there was danger in the air. Henry Bloom Noble refused a large cheque drawn on Dumbell's Bank. As Dumbell's was able to produce the cash straight away, the bank's prestige did not suffer, though Noble must have suspected that all was not well, and other veiled warnings were sounded towards the end of the decade.
When the storm broke on that fateful day in 1900, it was witnessed by Samuel Norris, who described Bruce: 'Alexander Bruce, general manager since 1878 ... friends which included the Governor, the Bishop, religious leaders ... a man of spotless character, with a most charming and electric personality. A clean, open countenance, keen, kindly eyes, well groomed hair turning grey, an upstanding man, who would command confidence in any circle, and whose dominating, successful personality had earned him the title 'King of Finance', and 'Uncrowned King of the Isle of Man'.'
Norris's perspicacity was well known. 'Death, lunacy, poverty, bankruptcy followed in its train', he wrote of the bank's collapse, before describing in some detail the tremendous upheavals in Island life, not least to some of its most respected citizens. The whole story took years to unwind, though in the cold light of history Samuel Norris concluded '... it seems beyond doubt that Bruce knew almost from the date of his first appointment, in 1878, that the bank was unsound'.
Whatever the truth, Bruce's empire had collapsed around him. The domino effect began and in June 1900 six of the directors, including Bruce, were arrested for fraud. Bruce had resigned his various positions and now he was quickly released, for he was fatally ill with heart disease and dropsy. He died only a month later. His funeral and burial at the new Braddan Cemetery was attended by a few very close friends, relatives and officials. An Isle of Man Times obituary commented aptly, 'Had Bruce died a year ago, half Douglas would have followed his coffin'.
Biography written by Frank Cowin and Henley Crowe.
(With thanks to Culture Vannin as publishers of the book: Kelly, Dollin (general editor), ‘New Manx Worthies’, Manx Heritage Foundation/Culture Vannin, 2006, pp.32-3.)
Culture Vannin
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Nationality: Scottish
Gender: Male
Date of birth: 21 August 1843
Date of death: 14 July 1900