Wallace Brothers

The Wallace brothers were the six sons of Edinburgh architect Lewis Wallace. In varying combinations, the brothers established themselves as one of the leading nineteenth century East India merchants, trading in cotton, tea, coffee and other commodities. Through their investments in Burma, they became the world’s leading exporter of teak. The rise of independent governments after World War II meant the progressive loss of the family’s Eastern assets and the redeployment of capital back to London. This capital was used in the 1960s to establish Wallace Brothers as a banking house but this strategy did not long survive the secondary banking crisis of 1973-75.

Company Structure

It is important to understand that Wallace Brothers was not a single entity. In a general sense, the brothers were the six sons, born between 1818 and 1836, of Edinburgh architect and builder Lewis Alexander Wallace. In order they were William (1818-88); Richard (1819-85); Lewis (1821-1906); George (1824-1903); Robert (1831-78); and Alexander (1831-1925). All worked as East India merchants; all worked together sometimes, but not always, and in different combinations. Thus, the London partnership of Wallace Brothers was formed in 1863 by Lewis and George, with Richard joining in 1865; the other three brothers did not join. Wallace & Co was the Bombay (now Mumbai) company in which most of the brothers seemed to participate at different times and in different capital amounts. Individual partnerships, often with non-family members, were found in peripheral parts of the business both in England and India. It was William alone who developed the Burma business, largely financed by Wallace Co; this was later capitalised as TheBombay Burmah Trading Corporation. Thus, the three main entities through the nineteenth century were Wallace Brothers in London; Wallace & Co in Bombay; and Bombay Burmah Trading in Burma. In the text they will be referred to as Brothers; Wallace & Co; and Bombay Burmah; more names will appear in the twentieth century text.