John Blunt was the chief financial promoter of Britain’s South Sea Bubble in 1720.
Blunt helped lead the South Sea Company and promoted a scheme that converted government debt into company shares. Promotional claims encouraged investors to believe that the company’s trade with Spanish America would produce immense profits, even though its actual trading prospects were limited.
South Sea Company shares rose dramatically during 1720 before collapsing later that year. The collapse ruined many investors and damaged confidence in joint-stock companies. Parliament investigated the scandal, and several directors were accused of corruption and improper dealings.
Isaac Newton was a famous investor who lost money in the bubble, but he was not its promoter. Robert Walpole later helped manage the political consequences, while James Gillray was an eighteenth-century caricaturist from a later period.