HSBC. He had started his
career at the Shanghai Commercial Bank Corporation of India. It was another of
the banks in the region that failed that year. In their case, it was because of over-speculation in Shanghai real
estate, and the unauthorized investment of the bank’s funds by the San
Francisco Manager in California mining enterprises. Plus ça change

when it comes to the most frequent reasons for bank
failures. It was a useful heads up for Noble.

He and Thomas Jackson, who had previously worked at the
failed Agra and Mastermans Bank, were hired that year along with a handful of
other fresh faced recruits. Of the twenty young men hired locally around that
time, there were only nine who lasted more than a decade. More to the point, George
Edward Noble and Thomas Jackson both rose toserve in the position of Hong Kong
Manager, the top staff position in the bank. There must be something to be said
for knowing the lay of the land from a range of perspectives at an early age,
including learning about failure.

George’s first HSBC appointment was as Agent in Shanghai. Two
years later, he was promoted to Acting Accountant at Hong Kong, a definite step
up the ladder. A year after that, 1869, he became the accountant in Bombay. In
essence, this meant that he was now in charge of the Bombay office, a post that
enable him to cash in on his father’s business contacts. Bear in mind that when
he was first appointed to this post, he had only reached the ripe old age of
twenty-nine.

I have posted a chronology on my web site that