Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
The career of this influential accountant illuminates, with colorful Victorian overtones, the beginnings of the investment trust movement and the heyday of British international investment.
1 The writer wishes to express appreciation to Mr. G. L. C. Touche, F.C.A. London, for his helpful comments on this sketch of his father.
2 Brown, Richard, A History of Accounting and Accountants (Edinburgh, 1905), pp. 220–232Google Scholar. Also see A History of the Chartered Accountants of Scotland from the Earliest Times to 1954 (Edinburgh; The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, 1954)Google Scholar.
3 The Accountants' Magazine, Dec, 1924, pp. 653–655.
4 The Economist, issues of July 21, 1888, and April 6, 1889, contained several references to the rise of the investment company in British finance.
5 Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (New York, 1932), vol. VIII, pp. 280–281Google Scholar.
6 The Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company was capitalized at £30 million. There was a considerable British investment in the debenture and preference shares with the ordinary shares owned by Sofina, a large Belgian finance group. In the 1930's, the transport system owned by the company was nationalized and no payment was ever made to shareholders.
7 Obituary notice on Sir George Touche, The Accountants' Magazine, Aug., 1935, pp. 493–495.
8 See The Accountant, May 21, 1904, pp. 691–704; March 24, 1905, pp. 381–384; March 31, 1905, pp. 412–420; and Sept. 22, 1906, pp. 329–333.
9 Knowles, L. C. A., The Industrial and Commercial Revolution in Great Britain during the Nineteenth Century (London, 1930), p. 138Google Scholar.