Henry Taylor, LRAHM The most interesting of London's loan companies was Henry Taylor's Ontario Investment Association (OIA). OIA's shareholders included many of the best legal and business minds of the day such as George Gibbons, William R. Meredith and his brother Richard, John Labatt and W. A. Fitzgerald, founder of Imperial Oil. The company did well in the British money markets, selling long-term debentures. By 1887, over a million dollars worth of bonds had been sold, much of it winding up in the hands of the three principals as "loans". Taylor's take was about $389,000. Some shareholders also obtained loans on the strength of the value of their shares even though, in most cases, the shares were never close to fully paid for. The collapse started with the failure of the firm's English bond agents who went down with nearly $100,000 of the Association's money. In the face of this and with some of the British debentures about to come due, the three principals left for the U. S. Taylor, however, was followed south by W. A. Fitzgerald, who, on behalf of the Association, promised him immunity from prosecution if he would return to London and help straighten out the mess. Taylor returned, and although Fitzgerald kept his word, R. M. Meredith brought a personal suit against Taylor for fraud which landed him in jail.