The failure of Me. Ernest Torah Hooley announced in another column of this journal will come as a great surprise to many, though the gigantic nature of his operations—at times transparently risky, seemed to indicate that he was tempting providence. Born some forty years ago he early entered on a business career under the direction of his father, a small lace manufacturer in Nottingham, but while very young opened a similar business on his own account, barr wing, common report has it, the necessary funds to lay down the requisite machinery. It was shortly after this, in the hey-day of the lace industry when Nottingham was one of the most go-ahead places in England that his first speculative Venture was consummated, at a small, bat satisfactory profit, em sidering that he started with nothing when he floated his business. From then he appears to have devoted the whole of his time to company promoting. His operations were however on a very small scale until some seven or eight years ago when he became associated with a syndicate which included the Brothers Clu Croz and Martin D. Rucker which secured from Dunlop, the patentee, the sole right of manufacture of the famous Dunlop pneumatic tire. The bicycle craze was then affecting all classes of English society and the bicycle manufacturers could not turn out wheels fast enough. The Dunlop tire had the name and a company to exploit it was founded with Hooley at its head with an authorised capital of three millions sterling which it was given out was all subscribed. This was the tide in his affairs and had he taken it at the flood a fortune, and a big one was secured. But he could not rest and he embarked on innumerable schemes being mixed up either as underwriter or promoter, in most of the big financial undertakings of the past few years. He purchased the goodwill and name of "*Bovril" for two millions, which he successfully floated at a half-a-million profit, in addition to numerous companies for the manufacture of bicycles and cycle components, whilst his name was coupled wit Major Jameson and a powerful syndicate in the negotiations for the recent loan to China of sixteen millions which project however, was, as is well known, roid of fruition. Busy man as he was he found time to discharge numerous social functions and his liberality was, while it lasted prodigal to a degree. "He avowed himself a staunch Conservative and was recently adopted in that interest as a candidate for the Ilkeston division of Derbyshire in opposition to the sitting member Sir Walter Foster, the eminent physician. He also supported the church party endowing churches in the district where he was born, and also gave nearly half a million sterling to float a scheme of old age pensions for the benefit of the poor within a fairly comprehensive radius of his native town of Nottingham. He purchased Risley Hall. three or four years ago, a. fine old moated pile formerly priory, where he entertained largely and where he also. went in for horse and cattle breeding on a large scale. Of all his bola schemes however probably his gift of a costly gold communion service to St. Paul's Cathedral was the most audacious, as taking place a short time previous to the awarding of the Jubilee honours it was only too evident thatit was a title he was angling for. The Press were not slow to point this out and many journals covered him with opprobrium. His name nevertheless did not appear in the honours list. The fact of the matter was nothing was big enough for him and like many other parvenus thought that having acquired wealth he ought to be admitted to the highest circles, from which atthe same time he was rigorously debarred.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.