1870-1874
An general description of James Forman’s life until 1870 has been given earlier [PAGE3710]. The following account describes the events that led to James Forman and his wife selling Thorndean and leaving Canada to come and live in England.
DISCOVERY AND DISGRACE
In early summer of 1870 a junior bank clerk named Johns found that he was having difficulty explaining discrepancies of about $30,000 in the bank’s accounts and after a certain amount of hesitation he took his suspicions to the bank’s accountant, J.C. Mackintosh. Mackintosh took these accusations seriously because for a number of years, knowing Forman had a large personal overdraft, he had had reservations about his financial position and had been carrying out secret audits. However such was Forman’s control over the day to day running of the bank’s affairs, he had not been able to confirm his suspicions.
Armed with this new information and after checking the figures carefully Mackintosh went to see Almon to tell him that his close and trusted friend James Forman had been making false entries and embezzling money from the bank. This devastating news was broken to the nine members of the board of directors at a special meeting held on 28 July 1870. They were told that on the previous day James Hall had been relieved of his duties and that he had also signed two Deeds listing all his assets, each Deed being headed by the following statement ‘Whereas the said James Forman is indebted to the President Directors and Company of the Bank of Nova Scotia in a large some of money and is desirous of securing the payment thereof by a transfer of all his property Real and Personal’.
After what must have been a dramatic meeting, the first task of the board of directors was to inform the shareholders of what had happened and make sure that the bank continued to retain its position as a pillar of the province’s financial community. The meeting was held in mid August and the shareholders were informed that James Forman had embezzled, over the last 25 years, a sum of about $320,000, the equivalent in today’s money (2002) of over £4,000,000. They were also able to tell the meeting that Forman had signed a full confession and agreed that all his assets, including his handsome house, should be realised to cover part of the loss. It was estimated that these assets would come to about $195,000, leaving a shortfall of $125,000. To put these sums in perspective the total defalcation of $320,000 was nearly half the shareholder’s total equity in 1870 and more than 15% of the Bank’s total assets. However the directors claimed to be confident, correctly as it turned out, that this was a manageable sum to deal with and that the future of the bank was secure.
At the August meeting it was decided that a joint committee of share holders and directors should be set up to thoroughly review the accounts and establish the exact amount of money that had been misappropriated. After several months this committee had to admit that the task was beyond them. One of their main difficulties was the refusal of James Forman to give them any assistance in unravelling the accounts. In October 1870 Mr Menzies, a Scottish trained banker, was appointed Cashier, and given the task of sorting matters out. He completed his work in March 1871. In his report he stated that the exact sum embezzled by James Forman was $314,967.68.
We must now return to James Forman. After his exposure, the bank had moved fast and the auction of Thorndean was arranged to take place between the 24th - 27th of August. James and his wife left Halifax to stay with their son Robert in Londonderry, some sixty miles away. However his long term future still remained very uncertain . Not unnaturally when his crimes were exposed, there had been a lively debate, which was later continued in the press, about what should be done with him. Some believed that despite his age he should face criminal charges, while others felt that the state of his health and the anguish of his disgrace justified more merciful treatment.
The directors of the Bank of Scotia took a third course. On 4th April they took civil proceedings to recover bonds that James obtained earlier in his career to guarantee ‘his good and faithful behaviour’. This proved to be an unwise decision. Not only was the bank awarded the derisory sum of $12 000, but the case gave the press and general public an opportunity to question the directors. For instance on August 16th The Morning Chronicle had commented “Mr Forman’s operations were not so cunningly conducted that they could not have been easily discovered. It was well known that he was engaged in heavy speculations, and that his expenditures were far too great for a man of his means. Yet the suspicions of those drowsy Directors were not aroused ... No careless clerk, no foolish store man could have committed blunders less excusable than those of the Directors of the Bank of Nova Scotia... it is high time that they should resign their positions or be ejected from them”.
We do not have much evidence of James and Margaret’s movements during 1871. By good chance the first census since the Federation was held in April 1871. We know from its returns that James and Margaret were living with their son in that month. The next evidence we have of James and Margaret’s movements comes from the diaries of their grandson George King-Hall who was serving on the Mediterranean Station. In an entry dated 23rd February 1872 he writes commenting on a letter from his parents “They tell me that my Grandparents go up to London again, not liking the West Country, the rainy weather not agreeing with them”.
This entry tells us indirectly that his grandparents had come over to England in the previous year and had first gone to London, where their daughter Louisa and William King-Hall had been living in Notting Hill since the beginning of 1870, while William had been on Half Pay. In November 1871 William moved to the West Country to take up his new appointment as Admiral Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard. No doubt his in-laws went with him. From this evidence it seems reasonable to assume that James and Margaret Foreman left Canada between May and October 1871 and were comfortably settled in London when the Halifax trial started in November.
FINAL DAYS
After his return to London in early 1872 James Forman only lived for another two years and died in August 1874. However it is from this short period that we have the only first hand information about him. It comes from the diaries of George King-Hall. Having returned from the Mediterranean in May 1873 George King-Hall was on leave until July. He was then appointed to HMS Resistance, an ironclad in the Channel Fleet. During this period he was able to make a number of visits to London during which he was able to make frequent visits to his grandparents at their home at 26 St James’s Square [now called St James’s Gardens], Notting Hill.
The diary entries for first of these visits which took place between the 18th and 21st June gives us the most detail of his time with his grandparents, but he was able to see them on many other occasions in the next year, before making, what was his final farewell, in the following May while his ship was visiting the Port of London.
Four months later, on August 24th, he hears of his death while his ship is in Cromarty Forth. In his diary he records the event with the following entry “This evening I got a telegram from my father at 8 pm saying my grandfather Forman had died and my mother was up in London. He died at 8 am in the morning. Poor old man, I’d just sent off, two hours before, some chocolate for his use. He was a kind, honourable and Christian man - and a very tender father.” After this moving obituary, the sentiments of which might not have had the full agreement of the shareholders of the Bank of Nova Scotia, George only makes one further reference to his Grandfather in his diaries. In March 1875 he pays a visit to his grave in Kensal Green Cemetery and is disturbed to find that the paint is already coming off the headstone. He writes to tell his uncle, James Robertson Forman, who is living in Scotland, about this unsatisfactory state of affairs.