The Most Audacious Fraud: How Eight Banks Were Robbed in a Morning

This is a long forgotten Edwardian crime, but the astonishing story is worth recalling. We found it while researching Harlesden but the scam concerns banks around south London. 

The Scam
On the morning of 23 September 1908, a smartly dressed young man with a top hat and gold rimmed glasses hired a motorised taxi at Victoria Station and asked the driver, Albert Pendrith, to take him to a branch of the London and South-Western Bank and wait outside. In all they visited eight branches around South London: Vauxhall, Clapham, Balham, Streatham, Tulse Hill, Dulwich, Forest Hill and Catford. The fare was 22 shillings, and he gave the driver a sixpence tip.

Each bank manager had received an advice note from Edwin Leopold Cox who had been manager of the Harlesden branch for about six years. The note said Mr Davitt S. Windell of 93 Craven Park Harlesden was transferring his account from the Harlesden branch to the other bank. The notes were on headed paper, stamped with the Harlesden branch address, signed by Edwin L. Cox, and had the correct handwritten daily codeword which was ‘Tack’. At each branch the young man was asked to sign the signature book for comparison and when it matched, he was issued with a new cheque book. He signed as Davitt Samuel Windell and wrote a £290 cheque ‘to self’, taking £200 in notes and £90 in gold sovereigns. 

The head office quickly realised they had been very cleverly swindled of £2,230 (today worth about £315,000). Edwin Cox said his signature and the advice notes were forgeries. The police were called in and found that 93 Craven Park did not exist. But as the correct code word had been used it had to be someone who worked for the bank. The initial letter of Tack on each of the eight advice notes was distinctive and looked more like a Y than a T. 

After seven months investigation and carefully examining 80,000 documents from the bank’s 13 London branches, the police and bank officials believed it was the work of Frances Reginald King, who wrote a capital T in a very similar way. He had been employed at the West Kensington branch for two years and had access to the code word as the branch manager was on holiday. He was interviewed and his flat at 60 Greyhound Mansions, Greyhound Road Fulham was searched. To obtain independent confirmation, King was asked to meet a London and South-Western Bank official in Leicester Square on 24 April 1909. This was a ruse, and Scotland Yard had arranged for Mr Servais from the Antwerp bank to identified the man who tried to cash the English bank notes. When Servais correctly identified King by raising his hat, the waiting detectives arrested King.

His accomplice ‘Swindell’ was really Bernard Isaac Robert. He was arrested in Madrid on 22 April 1909 after being identified by bank officials. Following an extradition order, he was brought back to England by Chief Inspector Elias Bower of Scotland Yard.

After appearing at Bow Street magistrate’s court, the men were tried at the Old Bailey, where they appeared relaxed and calm. 

Bernard Isaac Robert (left), Frances Reginald King (right)

On 23 June 1909, King who pleaded not guilty and was obviously the mastermind was sentenced to 7 years, while Robert who pleaded guilty and  confessed, got 18 months hard labour in Wormwood Scrubs. Robert was released in December 1910 and returned to Rotterdam.

Frances Reginald King

What do we know about the men?
Bernard Isaac Robert was extremely intelligent and spoke six languages. Born February 1888 he had an English mother the daughter of a Rabbi, and Dutch father. He grew up in Rotterdam where his father had a large drapery business called ‘Masion Robert’. Bernard came to England at the beginning of May 1904 and did shorthand and translation work. He worked as private secretary for the author and theosophist Alfred Percy Sinnett, from the middle of 1905 until 1907 on a salary of 30 shilling a week. He did research and translation on sleeping sickness for the Italian born Dr Louis Sambon of ‘Woodlawn’ Shoot Up Hill. Both employers gave Robert excellent character references in court.

Bernard lived at 22 Campion Road Wembley. A good musician, he had travelling in Devon and Cornwall playing guitar and busking, returning to London about ten days before carrying out the fraud which was suggested and planned by King. After obtaining the money from the eight banks, Bernard had lunch at the Eustace Miles’ restaurant in Covent Garden. Miles grew up in West Hampstead and was a ‘real tennis’ (not lawn tennis)  champion who advocated vegetarianism. Robert then caught the 2.00 boat train at Charing Cross for Paris. As he travelled across Europe, he gave much of the money away to friends.

Robert wrote a lengthy confession and said he did it for; ‘the devilment of the matter - the excitement, the ingenuity, the almost impossible success to crown it all, urged me to attempt the fraud. The name chosen was intended to mean ‘Damn Swindle’. He visualised himself ‘as the hero in one of the most daring and ingenious schemes of modern times’.

Francis Reginald King was born on 15 June 1879, and aged 29 at the time of the fraud. King said he had known Robert for five years and they had met through their shared interest in Buddhism and Theosophy. King had strong views about Socialism and Capitalism. They were both vegetarians at a time when this was uncommon.

After the scam, on a Xmas holiday King visited Robert’s parents in Rotterdam and went to an Antwerp bank on 26 December 1908 to cash six £5 notes. When challenged by the banker Mr Servais, who saw they matched the list of the bank notes issued by Scotland Yard, King ran off leaving the notes behind. The police questioned Mary Davidson, King’s girlfriend who had opened a bank account for him. She was a typist at the Bernard McFadden Homes near Chesham, but she was not charged.

After King served his sentence, he went to Penzance where he married Mary Davidson in 1916. He married for a second time twenty years later. In Penzance he set up the West of England Knitting Company. When he died on 7 May 1950 at ‘Sunholme’ Queen Street Penzance, he left £11,138. In line with his strong socialist beliefs, all the workers received sums of money from his will.