Duncan will talk about his history of Standard Chartered Bank, Crossing Continents (published by Allen Lane in 2021), and how he set about constructing a narrative account of a complex institution’s growth over almost exactly 150 years (from 1864).
He will recall some of the colourful personal encounters he had in talking to well over a hundred interviewees – some of whose memories stretched back as far as World War Two.
He will also describe the rich archival sources for the book – how some survived by the purest chance and others sadly did not. Though South Africa and the Standard Bank will feature in his talk, Duncan will focus primarily on the Asian dimension of the bank’s story and especially the history of Chartered Bank in Hong Kong.
The Speaker
Based in London, Duncan Campbell-Smith has been a full-time author for twenty years, after earlier careers in banking, journalism (with the Financial Times and The Economist) and corporate communications. He read Modern History at Merton College Oxford in 1969-72 and has written several history books, including most recently a biography of Frank Whittle (Jet Man, The Rise and Fall of the Genius of the Jet Revolution).
The evolution of culturally significant institutions over long time-frames has been a special interest. After publishing a history of Britain’s Royal Mail (Masters of the Post), he was invited by Standard Chartered Bank to write their corporate history, a commission that took several years to complete. The result, Crossing Continents, was published by Allen Lane in 2021. He is now working on a commissioned history of the Royal Bank of Scotland. www.duncancampbellsmith.com
PROGRAMME
Date: Wednesday, 5 June 2024
Time: 7 pm - 8pm, Hong Kong Time (12:00 noon – 1:00 pm, UK Time)
Venue: Online talk by Zoom
Admission: $50 for members, $60 for guests /non-members
Registration: Please email <membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk> and provide your membership number, if applicable, at the time of registration.
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Registration will be closed at 12 noon on 4 June 2024. Zoom links will be sent before or by 4 June 2024.