Keeping the plates spinning

However, things appeared in public, Hatry’s life had become increasingly desperate. The United Steel transaction required him first to take over the existing shares and bank loans of United Steel. The cost of this initial purchase was uncertain as it depended on how many of the shareholders would opt to receive shares in the new holding company rather than insisting on an immediate receipt of cash. At the worst, Hatry would require between £7 and 8 million. Although he received enough offers of financial support to announce the scheme, formal signing of agreements was left until the precise amount of cash required could be estimated with some certainty. At the end of May, the scheme was hit by the result of the general election: the Labour Party won enough seats to form a minority government. This increased uncertainty among shareholders who demanded cash rather than accepting shares and among Hatry’s supporters who feared for the success of Hatry’s scheme. Without warning, his largest supporter withdrew. Hatry would have been able to withdraw the scheme, although this would have incurred liabilities to disappointed shareholders who had already accepted his offer to buy their shares. He decided instead to seek other funders. By 23 June 1929, he and his team had found most of the money they required but were still short. Unable to face the embarrassment of admitting to failure, they tried to find the rest of the money by using fake local authority loan receipts as collateral for additional bank loans. The new board agreed that financial decisions should be made by a small group of directors which gave him control of British Automatic Company assets in a style reminiscent of Gerard Lee Bevan’s control of City Equitable Fire Insurance. While in public Clarence Hatry’s organisation appeared to be trading normally, activity was becoming frenzied in private. The team came to resemble music hall comedians condemned to keeping plates spinning on top of improbably long poles. Maintaining the public appearance of normality was important both for Hatry and his creditors. Problems in securing the cash needed by the group multiplied and led his team to resort to increasingly outlandish devices to surmount them. Hatry’s use of Wakefield’s funds mirrored a practice that had been perfected some years earlier by Rogers Caldwell in Tennessee. John Gialdini had been brought into the company by Daniels and shared similar habits, even managing to look a little like Hatry.