From the Mill to Monte Carlo: The Working Class Englishman Who Beat the Casino and Changed Gambling Forever – Anne Fletcher

Well this is a book that had me up for a few late nights. A true piece of detective work by the writer Anne Fletcher as she traced the incredible story of Joseph Hobson Jagger who was an engineer from Bradford who then travelled to Monte Carlo and literally broke the bank. From the Mill to Monte Carlo (Amberley Publishing) tells the remarkable story of just how Jagger managed to pull this off. What’s more The author Anne Fletcher is the great-great-great niece of Joseph Jagger.

For the author it all started with a single photograph, a newspaper article and then lyrics to a famous song. There was no way Anne Fletcher was going to stop the research now. There was an incredible story to be uncovered. And this really is an incredible true story.
Joseph Jagger was a married man with four children with the youngest of his children aged only two. Life was incredibly hard. He himself came from a large family, not unusual in those times. He taught himself to read and write before working in the Mills. He then set up his own business which was maintaining the cotton looms. His business later failed with large debts and now the family was facing the worst scenario the dreaded debtor prison. Life would be incredible harsh with little chance of ever getting out.
Jagger knew of only one way to escape the debtor prison and his plan which was nothing short of crazy was to find the cash and travel to Monte Carlo by 1861 Jagger was bankrupt, but he was determined to get to Monte Carlo and this did not happen until 1880. Through the generosity of friends, he managed to get enough money together and travel 1000 miles to Monte Carlo were he hatched out a plan to get rich quick.
He cleverly realised that the roulette wheels never span true. He studied the wheels very carefully and then started gambling. By the time he had finished he had won the equivalent of seven million. This had got the owners of the casino’s questioning what he was doing and in the end the wheels were redesigned. Jagger knew it was now time to quit and return home.
So what exactly did Joseph Jagger do with all his winnings? Jagger was clearly not a man who fame, he sought a fortune to solve a problem and won. When he got home he quietly faded from the scene. He paid back everyone who had lent him money and then made sure his children never faced the same fate he did. Jagger never lived a life of a rich man, he carried on living in the same home and just lived a very quiet life. When he died in 1892 there was no wealthy will to be read out.

It seems Joseph Hobson Jagger was ashamed of what he had done and did not want the fame that went with the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo. An incredible story wonderfully told by Anne Fletcher.

304 Pages.

Thank you to Hazel Keyes for the review copy of From the Mill to Monte Carlo by Anne Fletcher

From the Mill to Monte Carlo by Anne Fletcher was published by Amberley Publishing and was published on 15^th July 2018 and is available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop.