Wetherall

Description

A dry, meticulous clerk at the Bank of England’s Alexandria branch — ink-cuffed, forty-ish, and visibly homesick for Kent. He works a slide rule and a set of specimen books with the unhurried precision of a man who has done the same sums ten thousand times and will not be rushed into doing them wrong. Scrupulous about paper, incurious about people: he would honour a draft for the Devil himself if the signature matched.

Background

Posted to the Alexandria branch to handle the accounts of British officers, merchants, and travellers passing through Egypt. When Nathaniel Holt and Adrien came to the bank — having worked out that their dragoman Yusuf was skimming a hidden commission at the money-changer’s — Wetherall handled Holt’s request personally, working the numbers against Holt’s Navy commission with the slide rule before drawing up the advance.

Naval commissions cannot be sold outright (an Army-only privilege), so Wetherall structured the transaction as a bill against Holt’s pay via his Navy agent: one quarter’s arrears (£22 15s) plus a one-quarter advance (£22 15s), totaling £45 10s — roughly 205 Spanish dollars, or about 8,200 piastres — at Bank of England terms, with no house discount and no cut skimmed off the top. Holt effectively mortgaged the King’s pay to stay funded for the journey.

Connections

• Nathaniel Holt — advanced him a quarter-year’s Navy pay against his arrears, using a slide rule and specimen books to work the figures.
• Adrien de Montferrand — accompanied Holt to the bank after the pair worked out Yusuf’s skim at the money-changer’s.
• Yaqub ben Ezra — indirectly: the reason Holt and Adrien went to the Bank of England instead of using the sarraf for this transaction.

Appearances