Charles Wells (gambler)

Charles De Ville Wells (1841–1922) is one of the men who broke the bank at Monte Carlo, in a series of successful gambles in 1891, made famous by the song "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo". Subsequently, he was often referred to, especially in the press, as "Monte Carlo Wells". He was also a fraudster who used several aliases and who served four prison sentences (two in Britain and two in France). He was possibly the first criminal to set up a Ponzi scheme, pre-dating the swindles of Charles Ponzi himself by ten years.

Charles De Ville Wells was born in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. His father was Charles Jeremiah Wells (1799-1879), poet and lawyer, to whom John Keats once addressed a sonnet. His mother was Emily Jane Hill, the daughter of a Hertfordshire school teacher. Charles was the youngest of four surviving children, and the only son. When he was a few weeks old, the family moved from their home in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, to France, where they lived initially at Quimper, and later at Marseille.

Charles Wells found employment as an engineer at the shipyards and docks of Marseille in the 1860s. There is evidence that he also worked at a sugar beet processing plant in the Ukraine and a lead mine in Spain. In 1868, he invented a device for regulating the speed of ships’ propellers and sold the patent for 5,000 francs (approximately five times his annual salary). In about 1879, he moved to Paris, where he persuaded members of the public to invest in a fraudulent scheme to build a railway at Berck-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais). He disappeared with his clients’ money and was convicted in his absence by a Paris court. He relocated to Britain, where, from 1885 onwards, he persuaded members of the public to invest in what he claimed were valuable inventions of his own devising. Although he promised substantial profits, there is no evidence that any of his backers ever received a return on their outlay. One lost almost £19,000 (equivalent to £1.9m today, allowing for inflation).

Wells visited the Monte Carlo Casino in late July to early August 1891, and again in November of that year. With initial stake money of £4,000, he won approximately £60,000 (equivalent to £6m) over these two visits and broke the bank several times.

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