Great frauds in history: the Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company's early Ponzi scheme

The Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company (IWM) offered annuities and life insurance policies at rates that proved too good to be true –  thousands of policyholders who had handed over large sums were left with nothing.

Thomas Knowles was born in 1782 in Hythe, Kent, and went on to work as a servant in London. He was declared insolvent in 1819 and 1825, before finally being admitted to debtors’ prison for several months in 1829. William Hole, who was also born in Hythe, in 1793, worked as an apprentice before moving to London to set up his own shop. Like Knowles, he also faced personal financial problems and was declared bankrupt in 1827. In 1836 the pair teamed up with two other bankrupts to form the Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company (IWM).

How did the scam work?

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri