Claude de Bernales

Claude de Bernales
de Bernales in 1935 (?)
Born(1876-05-31)31 May 1876
Brixton, London
Died9 December 1963(1963-12-09) (aged 87)
Chelsea, London
OccupationMining promoter
Spouse(s)Bessie Picken Berry, Helen Florence Berry (née Pincknie)
ChildrenBeryl (d. 1923), Daphne Isobel Albo, Elizabeth Marguerita Albo (Betty)[1]
Parent(s)Manuel Edgar Albo de Bernales, Emma Jane Belden

Claude Albo de Bernales (31 May 1876 – 9 December 1963) was a Western Australian mining entrepreneur whose business activities and marketing did much to stimulate investment in Western Australia during the early years of the twentieth century.[2][3] During the 1930s gold production in the State increased from £1,600,000 to £11,800,000 and employment in the industry quadrupled due in considerable part to de Bernales' marketing of the goldfields to overseas investors.[4]

De Bernales accumulated immense wealth through complex and elaborate schemes by which he acquired many mining companies and attracted overseas investment and personal support. In the latter part of his life however, financial difficulties and ill-health saw him live as a recluse in Selsey, Sussex, United Kingdom.[5]

  1. ^ "Social and personal gossip". The Sunday Times. 15 July 1923. p. 10. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference faye was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Colebatch, Hal (1996). Claude de Bernales, the magnificent miner: A biography. Hesperian Press. ISBN 0-85905-200-1.
  4. ^ Laurence, John H. (1981). "Claude Albo de Bernales (1876–1963)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 8. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  5. ^ Dumett, Raymond E (2009). Mining Tycoons in the Age of Empire, 1870-1945. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-6303-4. Retrieved 10 February 2020.