Which London bank failed in 1866, helping trigger the Overend, Gurney crisis?

Overend, Gurney and Company failed in 1866, helping trigger the Overend, Gurney crisis.

Overend, Gurney and Company was a major London discount house that had originally built its reputation by financing bills of exchange. In the years before its collapse, the firm expanded into riskier lending, including support for railway and other infrastructure ventures.

The company suspended payments on May 10, 1866, after investors lost confidence in its financial position. Its failure caused a run on banks and discount houses, prompting the Bank of England to seek emergency authorization to lend beyond its normal reserve limits. This intervention helped contain the panic.

The episode is often treated as an early example of a central bank acting as lender of last resort. It was not itself the entire cause of the wider downturn, but it became the crisis's defining corporate failure and influenced later banking regulation.