Tom Ward The Collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank

22 May 2017

The collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank in 1878 was one of the most severe tests ever of the British banking system – and arguably, was passed remarkably well with the miscreants punished, lessons learned, and the system strengthened.

Yet today, it is hardly known. This is a terrible arrogance on our part – had we responded to the financial crisis of 2008 with the same skill and expedition, we’d be in much better shape today.

Following a long and successful career at Scottish and Newcastle plc Thomas Ward wrote a dissertation on the collapse for his master’s degree in intellectual history at the University of Edinburgh. He now works as an independent company director in both business and charities and teaches on postgraduate programmes.

Recent lectures

Banks – a confidence trick that works… most of the time

Wed 20 March 2024

Could we get a better panel to talk about banks? Iceland banking chronicler Jared Bibler, HBOS collapse expert Ray Perman and writer on RBS turmoil…

View Lecture →

A Night Cap – Paul Kosmetatos on the Leith Whisky Bubble of 1898 at the Weekend of Mistakes

Mon 11 March 2024

We’re delighted to share this video from our recent Weekend of Mistakes at Hay-on-Wye, a joint production between The Library Of Mistakes and Hay Castle…

View Lecture →

Daniel Peris on The Ownership Dividend

Wed 14 February 2024

A must attend event for anyone interested in portfolio management, we were truly honoured to have someone of the stature of Daniel Peris visit us…

View Lecture →

The Library of Mistakes Course

Advanced Valuation in Financial Markets

The online version of our renowned course, is available for both finance professionals and nonprofessionals.

As featured in the Financial Times

In conjunction with Heriot-Watt University

twoguys
Scroll to Top