Morton Peto

Sir Samuel Morton Peto, Bt
Historical photo of Morton Peto
Born	4 August 1809 Woking,Surrey, England
Died	13 November 1889(1889-11-13)(aged 80)
Nationality	English
Occupation	Civil engineeringcontractor
Spouse(s)	Mary Grissell (four children) Sarah Ainsworth Kelsall (11 children)
Children	15

Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet(4 August 1809 – 13 November 1889) was an English entrepreneur, civil engineer and railway developer, and, for more than 20 years, aMember of Parliament(MP). A partner in the firm ofGrissell and Peto,he managed construction firms that built many of London's major buildings and monuments, including theReform Club,The Lyceum Theatre,Nelson's Columnand the replacementHouses of Parliament- commissions which brought him great wealth.The scale of his operations, and that of the workforce needed to undertake them, made him the world's largest employer.

As a partner inPeto and Betts,he then became one of the major contractors in the building of therapidly expanding railwaysof the time. Along with a small group of other Master Builders in London he is credited as a founding member of the Chartered Institute of Building in 1834.

Early life

Samuel Morton Peto, normally called Morton Peto, was born on 4 August 1809, inWoking,Surrey. As a youth, he was apprenticed as a bricklayer to his uncleHenry Peto,who ran a building firm in London.

Career

When his uncle died in 1830, Peto and his older cousin,Thomas Grissell(who had been a partner to his uncle for five years), went into partnership. The firm ofGrissell and Peto(1830–1847) built many well-known buildings in London, including theReform Club,theOxford & Cambridge Club,theLyceum,St James's TheatreandHungerford MarketatCharing Cross.In addition, they builtNelson's Columnthe newHouses of Parliament(1843) and the vast infrastructure project of theLondon brick sewer.

Another project, in 1848, was theBloomsbury Baptist Chapel,the firstBaptist churchwith spires in London. Tradition has it that theCrown Commissionerwas reluctant to lease the land tononconformistsbecause of their "dull, spire-less architecture". Peto is said to have exclaimed, "A spire, my Lord? We shall have two!" The church had twin spires until 1951, when they were removed as unsafe.

Railway works

In 1834 Peto saw the potential of thenewly developing railwaysand dissolved the connection with his uncle's building firm. He and his cousin Grissell founded a business as an independent railway contractor. His firm's first railway work was to build two stations inCurzon Street,Birmingham. Next, the firm built its first line of track, theHanwelland Langley section of theGreat Western Railway,which included theWharncliffe Viaduct.

Grissell became increasingly nervous about the risks taken by Peto, and in 1846 dissolved the partnership.

Peto and Betts

Main article:Peto and Betts

In 1848 Peto andEdward Betts(who had married Peto's sister Ann) entered into a formal partnership and together they were to work on a large number of railway contracts. Frequently, they also work in partnership withThomas Brassey.

In 1854 during theCrimean WarPeto, Betts and Brassey constructed theGrand Crimean Central RailwaybetweenBalaklavaandSevastopolto transport supplies to the troops at the front line.

In February 1855 the British government recognised Peto for his wartime services; he was madeBaronetofSomerleyton Hallin the County of Suffolk.KingFrederick VII of Denmarkhonoured Petofor establishing theFlensburg–Husum–Tönning Railway Companyand its construction of railways in theDuchy of Schleswig,which led to a growing export/import trade with the port ofLowestoft.Another project abroad was theHomburg Railwaybuilt from 1859 to 1860.

The Peto and Betts partnership became insolvent in 1866 due to a combination of the failure of the bank,Overend, Gurney and Company,and their involvement in the failure of theLondon Chatham and Dover Railway.

Other activities

In 1844, Peto boughtSomerleyton HallinSuffolk.He rebuilt the hall with contemporary amenities, as well as constructing a school and more houses in the village. He next built similar projects inLowestoft.

In 1846, Peto became co-treasurer of theBaptist Missionary Society.From 1855 to March 1867, he was sole treasurer, resigning after personal financial difficulties.In 1855 took over the lease ofThe Diorama, Regent's Parkand paid for its conversion into a Baptist Chapel.

Peto served for two decades as a Member of Parliament. He was elected aLiberalMember forNorwichin 1847 to 1854, forFinsburyfrom 1859 to 1865, and forBristolfrom 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 ofThe Great Exhibition of 1851,backingJoseph Paxton'sCrystal Palace.

In 1855 Peto was made abaronet;but in the 1860s his businesses ran into trouble, so that in 1863 he sold Somerlyton Hall and in 1866 became bankrupt.

After his involvement with the insolvency of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1866, and the failure of the Peto and Betts partnership, Peto's personal reputation as a trustworthy businessman was badly damaged and never fully recovered.

Between 1863-65 the currentEmbassy of Nepalin Kensington Place Gardens, London W8, designed by the architect James Murray, was built for Peto.

In 1865 he is listed as living atAuchline HouseatKillininPerthshire.

In 1868, he had to give up his seat inParliament,despite having the support of bothBenjamin DisraeliandWilliam Ewart Gladstone.He exiled himself to Budapest and tried to promote railways in Russia and Hungary.

When he returned he became the main contractor for theCornwall Minerals Railwaywhich opened in 1874, but the failure of the relatedCornish Consolidated Iron Mines Corporationmeant that he sustained heavy losses when iron ore traffic on the CMR failed to live up to expectations. The CMR itself survived and began to recover after it had introduced passenger services in 1876 and was then leased by the Great Western Railway in 1877, but this improvement came too late for Peto.

He died in obscurity in 1889.

Legacy

The bust of Peto in Norwich Station (2010)

An extremely unfavourable portrait of Peto is included in the appendix toGeorge Borrow'sRomany Rye,where he is described as "Mr. Flamson". When Peto promoted the Lowestoft Railway and Harbour Company in the 1840s, the railway split Borrow's estate atOulton Broad,just outside Lowestoft. Borrow deeply resented this and bore a grudge against Peto thereafter.

Peto is commemorated by a portrait bust atNorwich railway stationby John Pooler.Morton Peto Road, a road in Great Yarmouth, was named after him. There is a road in Lowestoft called "Peto Way" that connects Lowestoft railway station (via Denmark Road, again in connection with Peto's legacy in Denmark) to Normanston.

InAshford. Kent,Samuel Peto Way is a residential road built upon the old Newtown Railway Works site and was named in his honour.

InBishop's Stortford,Hertfordshire,Morton Peto Road is located close to the town's railway station.

A portrait of Peto hangs outside the library atRegent's Park College, Oxford,in commemoration of his assistance with the college's move from Stepney to Regent's Park.

Family

In May 1831 Peto married Mary Grissell, one of the sisters of his later partner, Thomas Grissell. They had four children before Mary's death in 1842:

1. Henry (1840–1938) who succeeded as the 2nd baronet in 1899
2. Annie
3. Sophia
4. Mary, who married Penruddocke Wyndham, a grandson ofColonel Wadham Wyndham,in 1852 and had two daughters.

Peto then married Sarah Ainsworth Kelsall, the daughter of Henry Kelsall ofRochdale.Peto and Sarah had many children. Of these:

1. Morton Kelsall (b. 1845)
2. William Herbert (b. 1849.) He was the father of Ralph Peto, maternal grandfather ofJohn Edward Hollister Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich.
3. Samuel Arthur (b. 1852)
4. Harold Ainsworth(1854–1933), the celebrated landscape architect. (Source:Mowl, TimothyHistoric Gardens of Wiltshire,London: Tempus Publishing, 2004.)
5. Frank Kelsall (b. 1858)
6. Basil Edward Peto(1862–1945), created a baronet in his own right in 1927. His grandsonChristopher Peto, 3rd Bt.was a Conservative politician. (Source: 107th edition ofBurke,Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage,London: 2004).
7. Sarah
8. Maude
9. Edith
10. Emily
11. Helen Agnes, who married Lawrence Ingham Baker, son of the former Liberal MP forFrome;he was amagistrateofSomerset.They lived atWayford Manor Houseat Wayford, nearCrewkerne,Somerset.

References

Bibliography

• Brooks, Edward C. (1996).Sir Samuel Morton Peto Bt: eminent Victorian, railway entrepreneur, country squire, MP.Bury Clerical Society.ISBN978-0-9502988-4-9.
• Cooke, Brian (1990).The Grand Crimean Central Railway.Knutsford: Cavalier House.ISBN0-9515889-0-7.
• Cox, John G. (2008).Samuel Morton Peto; the achievements and failings of a great railway developer.The Railway and Canal Historical Society.ISBN978-0-901461-56-8.
• Faith, Nicholas (1990).The world the railways made.London: The Bodley Head.ISBN0-370-31299-6.
• Francis, John (1851).A History of the English Railway; its social relations & revelations, 1820-1845, Volume 1.London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans.ISBN1-144866-90-1.
• Helps, Arthur(2006) [1872].The Life and Works of Mr Brassey(republished ed.). Nonsuch.ISBN1-84588-011-0.
• Joby, R.S. (1983).The Railway Builders: Lives and Works of the Victorian Railway Contractors.Newton Abbot: David & Charles.ISBN0-7153-7959-3.
• Stacey, Tom(2005).Thomas Brassey: The Greatest Railway Builder in the World.London: Stacey International.ISBN1-905299-09-5.
• Sparkes, Douglas C. (2013).Hitting the buffers, Samuel Morton Peto, 1809–1889, railway builder extraordinaire.Didcot: Baptist Historical Society.ISBN978-0-903166-41-6.

External links

• Hansard1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Morton Peto