The fascinating story of William Wheeler Yelf - respected Methodist minister, owner of Yelf Brothers Printers, pillar of the community and, as it turns out, massive fraudster - has been covered over three postings earlier in this blog. However it was only when going through some Parliamentary papers that I came across the correspondence between the Trustees of the Isle of Wight Savings banks, the Commissioners of the National Debt and William Grey, an accountant who examined the books. Read in a chronological sequence they provide a fascinating look at the methods William Yelf used to defraud the bank over a 15 year period (no impetuous act on his part then!).Any further commentary on my part would be wasted, so get yourself a nice cup of tea, a pencil and a calculator and settle down for some real-life detective work!
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