Samuel Morton Peto
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Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet (August 4, 1809 – November 13, 1889) was an English entrepreneur in the 19th century. Initially he constructed prestigious buildings in London before becoming one of the major contractors for the growing railways of the time.
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[edit] Early life
He was born in Woking, Surrey, and was apprenticed as a brick-layer to his uncle who ran a building firm in London. When the uncle died in 1830, Peto and his cousin Thomas Grissell went into partnership. The firm of Peto & Grissell built many well-known London buildings, including the Reform Club, the Oxford & Cambridge Club, the Lyceum, and St James's Theatre, Hungerford Market, as well as Nelson's column and the London brick sewer.
[edit] Railway works
In 1834 Peto saw the potential of the newly developing railways, dissolved the connection with his uncle's building firm and became a railway contractor. The first railway work was to build two stations in Curzon Street, Birmingham. The first line built was the Hanwell and Langley section of the Great Western Railway which included the Wharncliffe Viaduct[1]. Grissell became increasingly nervous of the risks taken by Peto and so dissolved the partnership in 1846. Peto then entered into partnership with Edward Betts, who had married his sister, Ann[2].
Between 1846 and 1855, the firm carried out many large railway contracts both at home and abroad, among them the South-Eastern Line and the London, Chatham & Dover lines, and in partnership with Thomas Brassey the London, Tilbury & Southend line and the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada[3]. In the late 1850s he helped to build the first railway in Algeria and accompanied Napoleon III to the official opening of the line[4].
In 1854 during the Crimean War Peto, Betts and Brassey constructed the Grand Crimean Central Railway between Balaklava and Sevastopol to transport supplies to the troops at the front line[5]. In February the following year he was made a Baronet, of Somerleyton Hall in the County of Suffolk, for his services.
[edit] Other activities
Peto became co-treasurer of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1846 and sole treasurer in 1855 until March 1867 when he resigned.[6]
He was elected a Liberal Member of Parliament for Norwich in 1847 to 1854, for Finsbury from 1859 to 1865, and for Bristol from 1865 to 1868. During this time he was one of the most prominent figures in public life. He helped to make a guarantee towards the financing of the Great Exhibition of 1851, backing Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace[7].
However, he became involved in the financial crisis of 1866, was declared bankrupt and in 1868 he had to give up his seat in Parliament, despite having the support of both Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone. He exiled himself to Budapest and tried to promote railways in Russia and Hungary. When he returned to England he tried to launch a small mineral railway in Cornwall, which failed, and he died in obscurity in 1889[8].
Peto had bought Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk in 1843. He re-built the hall and constructed a school and more houses in the village, before turning his attention to Lowestoft. He built a railway to connect the town to the rest of the rail network, as well as a harbour for 1,000 ships and some luxury hotels for the burgeoning holiday trade.
[edit] Family
Sir Samuel had several children, of whom:
- Sir Samuel's eldest son, Sir Michael Peto inherited his title as 2nd baronet.
- Another son Harold Ainsworth Peto (1854-1933), the celebrated Edwardian landscape gardener, renowned for turning Italian exotica into even more ornate Japanese gardens before the Great War. (Source: Mowl, T Historic Gardens of Wiltshire, Tempus publishing: London 2004.)
- His seventh son Basil (1862-1945) was created a Baronet in his own right in 1927. His grandson Sir Christopher Peto, 3rd Bt. was a Conservative politician. (Source: 107th edition of Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, published: London 2004).
- Mary married Penruddocke Wyndham, a grandson of Colonel Wadham Wyndham, in 1852 and had two daughters.
- Helen Agnes married a Magistrate of Somerset, Lawrence Ingham Baker, son of the former Liberal MP for Frome. They lived at Wayford Manor, near Crewkerne, Somerset.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Joby, p. 59.
- ^ Faith, pp. 103-104.
- ^ Helps. p. 109.
- ^ Faith, p. 105.
- ^ Cooke, pp16-64
- ^ Stanley, Brian (1992: 218) The History of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1992 1992 Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark
- ^ Faith, p. 105.
- ^ Faith, p. 106.
[edit] References
- Brooks, Edward C. Sir Samuel Morton Peto Bt: eminent Victorian, railway entrepreneur, country squire, MP Bury Clerical Society, 1996 ISBN 0950298826
- Cooke, Brian The Grand Crimean Central Railway, Cavalier House, Knutsford, 1990 ISBN 0-9515889-0-7
- Faith, Nicholas The world the railways made The Bodley Head, London, 1990 ISBN 0-370-31299-6
- Helps, Arthur The Life and Works of Mr Brassey, 1872 republished Nonsuch, 2006 ISBN 1845880110
- Joby, R S The Railway Builders: Lives and Works of the Victorian Railway Contractors, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1983, ISBN 0-7153-7959-3
- Stacey, Tom Thomas Brassey: The Greatest Railway Builder in the World, Stacey International, London, 2005, ISBN 1905299095
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Marquess Douro Benjamin Smith |
Member of Parliament for Norwich with Marquess Douro 1847–1852 Edward Warner 1852–1854 1847–1854 |
Succeeded by Edward Warner Sir Samuel Bignold |
| Preceded by Thomas Slingsby Duncombe William Cox |
Member of Parliament for Devizes with Thomas Slingsby Duncombe 1859–1861 William Cox 1861–1865 1859–1865 |
Succeeded by William Torrens McCullagh Torrens Sir Andrew Lusk |
| Preceded by Francis Henry Fitzhardinge Berkeley William Henry Gore-Langton |
Member of Parliament for Bristol with Francis Henry Fitzhardinge Berkeley 1865–1868 |
Succeeded by Francis Henry Fitzhardinge Berkeley John William Miles |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by New creation |
Baronet (of Somerleyton Hall) 1855–1889 |
Succeeded by Henry Peto |
