Editing Morton Peto

{{Short description|British politician and railway contractor (1809–89)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name           = Sir Samuel Morton Peto, Bt
| image          = Morton Peto.jpg
| image_upright  = 
| caption        = 
| birth_date     = 4 August 1809
| birth_place    = [[Woking]], Surrey, England
| death_date     = {{death date and age|df=yes|1889|11|13|1809|8|4}}
| death_place    = 
| education      = 
| occupation     = Civil engineering [[General contractor|contractor]]
| title          =
| spouse         = Mary Grissell (four children)<br />Sarah Ainsworth Kelsall (11 children)
| parents        =  
| children       = 15
| nationality    = English
| website        =
}}

'''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, a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP). A partner in the firm of [[Grissell and Peto]], he managed construction firms that built many of London's major buildings and monuments, including the [[Reform Club]], [[Lyceum Theatre, London|The Lyceum Theatre]], [[Nelson's Column]] and the replacement [[Houses of Parliament]] - commissions which brought him great wealth.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.greatbritishgardens.co.uk/harold_peto.htm| title=Harold Peto (1854-1933)| work=greatbritishgardens.co.uk| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111204211647/http://www.greatbritishgardens.co.uk/harold_peto.htm| archive-date=4 December 2011}}</ref> The scale of his operations, and that of the workforce needed to undertake them, made him the world's largest employer.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.newhamstory.com/node/897| title=Samuel Peto - The Newham Story| work=newhamstory.com| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316121957/http://newhamstory.com/node/897| archive-date=16 March 2013}}</ref>

As a partner in [[Peto and Betts]], he then became one of the major contractors in the building of the [[History of rail transport in Great Britain|rapidly expanding railways]] of 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.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.ciob.org/our-history| title=Our History| publisher=Chartered Institute of Building| access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref>

==Early life==
Samuel Morton Peto, normally called Morton Peto, was born on 4 August 1809, in [[Woking]], Surrey.  As a youth, he was apprenticed as a bricklayer to his uncle [[Henry 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 of [[Grissell and Peto]] (1830–1847) built many well-known buildings in London, including the [[Reform Club]], the [[Oxford & Cambridge Club]], the [[Lyceum Theatre (London)|Lyceum]], [[St James's Theatre]] and [[Hungerford Market]] at [[Charing Cross]].  In addition, they built [[Nelson's Column]] the new [[Houses of Parliament]] (1843) and the vast infrastructure project of the [[London sewerage system|London brick sewer]].

Another project, in 1848, was the [[Bloomsbury Chapel|Bloomsbury Baptist Chapel]], the first [[Baptist church]] with spires in London. Tradition has it that the [[Crown Commissioner]] was reluctant to lease the land to [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]]s because 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bloomsbury.org.uk/church/page/a_church_with_two_spires/ |title=A church with two spires |publisher=Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church |year=2012 |access-date=11 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207023159/http://bloomsbury.org.uk/church/page/a_church_with_two_spires/ |archive-date=7 February 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Railway works==
In 1834 Peto saw the potential of the [[History of rail transport in Great Britain|newly developing railways]] and 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 in [[Birmingham Curzon Street railway station (1838-1966)|Curzon Street]], Birmingham. Next, the firm built its first line of track, the [[Hanwell]] and Langley section of the [[Great Western Railway]], which included the [[Wharncliffe Viaduct]].{{sfn|Joby|1983|p=59}}

Grissell became increasingly nervous about the risks taken by Peto, and in 1846 dissolved the partnership.{{sfn|Faith|1990|pp=103–104}}

==Peto and Betts==
{{Main|Peto and Betts}}
In 1848 Peto and [[Edward 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 with [[Thomas Brassey]].

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.{{sfn|Cooke|1990|pp=16–64}}

In February 1855 the British government recognised Peto for his wartime services; he was made [[Baronet]] of [[Somerleyton Hall]] in the County of Suffolk.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=21664 |date=16 February 1855 |page=605}}</ref> King [[Frederick VII of Denmark]] honoured Peto{{when|date=May 2013}} for establishing the [[Flensburg–Husum–Tönning Railway Company]] and its construction of railways in the [[Duchy of Schleswig]], which led to a growing export/import trade with the port of [[Lowestoft]]. Another project abroad was the [[Homburg Railway]] built from 1859 to 1860.<ref>{{cite book| first=Volker| last=Rödel| title=Eisenbahn in Hessen| volume=1| page=151}}</ref>

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 the [[London Chatham and Dover Railway]].

==Other activities==
In 1844, Peto bought [[Somerleyton Hall]] in [[Suffolk]]. He rebuilt the hall with contemporary amenities, as well as constructing a school and more houses in the village. He next built similar projects in [[Lowestoft]]. 

In 1846, Peto became co-treasurer of the [[BMS World Mission|Baptist Missionary Society]]. From 1855 to March 1867, he was sole treasurer, resigning after personal financial difficulties.<ref>{{cite book| last=Stanley| first=Brian| year=1992| page=218| title=The History of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792–1992| location=Edinburgh| publisher=T. & T. Clark}}</ref> In 1855 took over the lease of [[The Diorama, Regent's Park]] and paid for its conversion into a Baptist Chapel.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Saunders |first1=Ann |title=Regent's Park: From 1086 to the Present |date=1981 |publisher=Bedford College |location=London |isbn=0-900145-62-5 |edition=Second}}</ref>

Peto served for two decades as a Member of Parliament. He was elected a [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] Member for [[Norwich (UK Parliament constituency)|Norwich]] in 1847 to 1854, for [[Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Finsbury]] from 1859 to 1865, and for [[Bristol (UK Parliament constituency)|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|The Great Exhibition of 1851]], backing [[Joseph Paxton]]'s [[The Crystal Palace|Crystal Palace]].{{sfn|Faith|1990|p=105}}

In 1855 Peto was made a [[baronet]]; but in the 1860s his businesses ran into trouble, so that in 1863 he sold Somerlyton Hall and in 1866 became bankrupt.{{sfn|Brooks|1996}}{{page needed|date=January 2021}}

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 current [[Embassy of Nepal]] in Kensington Place Gardens, London W8, designed by the architect James Murray, was built for Peto.

In 1865 he is listed as living at [[Auchline House]] at [[Killin]] in [[Perthshire]].<ref>Perth Post Office Directory 1865: List of Noblemen and Gentlemen's Country Seats</ref>

In 1868, he had to give up his seat in [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]], despite having the support of both [[Benjamin Disraeli]] and [[William 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 the [[Cornwall Minerals Railway]] which opened in 1874, but the failure of the related [[Cornish Consolidated Iron Mines Corporation]] meant 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.{{sfn|Faith|1990|p=106}}<ref group=note>He is buried with his second wife at Pembury old church, near Tonbridge, Kent.</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Sir Samuel Morton Peto.JPG|thumb|right|The bust of Peto in Norwich Station (2010)]]
An extremely unfavourable portrait of Peto is included in the appendix to [[George Borrow]]'s ''[[The Romany Rye|Romany 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 at [[Oulton Broad]], just outside Lowestoft. Borrow deeply resented this and bore a grudge against Peto thereafter.<ref>{{cite book| last=Knapp| first=William| title=Life, Writings and Correspondence of George Borrow |location=London| publisher=John Murray| year=1899| volume=2| pages=52–53| url=https://archive.org/details/lifewritingsand00unkngoog| via=Archive.org}}</ref>

Peto is commemorated by a portrait bust at [[Norwich railway station]] by John Pooler.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://sculpturefornorwich.co.uk/NorwichSculpture.php?id=166| title=Bust of Sir Samuel Morton Peto – Station| publisher=Sculpture for Norwich| access-date=27 July 2014| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812124407/http://sculpturefornorwich.co.uk/NorwichSculpture.php?id=166| archive-date=12 August 2014}}</ref> 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.

In [[Ashford. Kent]], Samuel Peto Way is a residential road built upon the old Newtown Railway Works site and was named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/tn240xp | title=Interesting Information for Samuel Peto Way, Ashford, TN24 0XP Postcode }}</ref>

In [[Bishop's Stortford]], [[Hertfordshire]], Morton Peto Road is located close to the town's railway station.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/cm233fw | title=Interesting Information for Morton Peto Road, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 3FW Postcode }}</ref>

A portrait of Peto hangs outside the library at [[Regent's Park College, Oxford]], in commemoration of his assistance with the college's move from Stepney to Regent's Park.<ref name="Baptist Times">{{cite web| url=https://www.baptist.org.uk/Articles/380488/The_largest_employer.aspx| title=The largest employer in the world| publisher=baptist.org.uk| access-date=26 November 2018}}</ref>

==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:<ref>{{cite book| title=The Architecture of Sir Ernest George and His Partners, C. 1860–1922| first=Hilary Joyce| last=Grainger| year=1985| url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/239/1/uk_bl_ethos_353444_VOL1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718172214/http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/239/1/uk_bl_ethos_353444_VOL1.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-18 |url-status=live| via=White Rose eTheses Online}}</ref>
# Henry (1840–1938) who succeeded as the 2nd baronet in 1899
# Annie
# Sophia
# Mary, who married Penruddocke Wyndham, a grandson of [[Wadham Wyndham (army officer)|Colonel Wadham Wyndham]], in 1852 and had two daughters.

Peto then married Sarah Ainsworth Kelsall, the daughter of Henry Kelsall of [[Rochdale]]. Peto and Sarah had many children. Of these:
# Morton Kelsall (b. 1845)
# William Herbert (b. 1849.) He was the father of Ralph Peto, maternal grandfather of [[John Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich|John Edward Hollister Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich]].
# Samuel Arthur (b. 1852)
# [[Harold Peto|Harold Ainsworth]] (1854–1933), the celebrated landscape architect. (Source: [[Mowl, Timothy]] ''Historic Gardens of Wiltshire'', London: Tempus Publishing, 2004.)
# Frank Kelsall (b. 1858)
# [[Sir Basil Peto, 1st Baronet|Basil Edward Peto]] (1862–1945), created a baronet in his own right in 1927. His grandson [[Christopher Peto|Christopher Peto, 3rd Bt.]] was a Conservative politician. (Source: 107th edition of [[Burke's Peerage|Burke]], ''Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage'', London: 2004).
# Sarah
# Maude
# Edith
# Emily
# Helen Agnes, who married Lawrence Ingham Baker, son of the former Liberal MP for [[Frome (UK Parliament constituency)|Frome]]; he was a [[magistrate]] of [[Somerset]]. They lived at [[Wayford Manor House]] at Wayford, near [[Crewkerne]], Somerset.{{when|date=November 2012}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book| last=Brooks| first=Edward C.| title=Sir Samuel Morton Peto Bt: eminent Victorian, railway entrepreneur, country squire, MP| publisher=Bury Clerical Society| year=1996| isbn=978-0-9502988-4-9}}
* {{cite book| last=Cooke| first=Brian| title=The Grand Crimean Central Railway| location=Knutsford| publisher=Cavalier House| year=1990| isbn=0-9515889-0-7}}
* {{cite book| last=Faith| first=Nicholas| title=The world the railways made| location=London| publisher=The Bodley Head| year=1990| isbn=0-370-31299-6}}
* {{cite book| last=Joby| first=R.S.| title=The Railway Builders: Lives and Works of the Victorian Railway Contractors| publisher=David & Charles| location=Newton Abbot| year=1983| isbn=0-7153-7959-3}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book| last=Cox| first=John G.| title=Samuel Morton Peto; the achievements and failings of a great railway developer| publisher=The Railway and Canal Historical Society| year=2008| isbn=978-0-901461-56-8}}
* {{cite book| last=Francis| first=John| title=A History of the English Railway; its social relations & revelations, 1820-1845, Volume 1| location=London| publisher=Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans| year=1851| oclc= 654239074}}
* {{cite book| authorlink=Arthur Helps| last=Helps| first=Arthur| title=The Life and Works of Mr Brassey| orig-year=1872| edition=republished| publisher=Nonsuch| year=2006| isbn=1-84588-011-0}}
* {{cite book| authorlink=Tom Stacey| last=Stacey| first=Tom| title=Thomas Brassey: The Greatest Railway Builder in the World| publisher=Stacey International| location=London| year=2005| isbn=1-905299-09-5}}
* {{cite book| last=Sparkes| first=Douglas C.| title=Hitting the buffers, Samuel Morton Peto, 1809–1889, railway builder extraordinaire| location=Didcot| publisher=Baptist Historical Society| year=2013| isbn=978-0-903166-41-6}}

==External links==
* {{Hansard-contribs | sir-samuel-peto |  Morton Peto }}
{{commons category|Samuel Morton Peto}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
 | title  = [[Norwich (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for Norwich]]
 | with   = [[Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington|Marquess of Douro]] 1847–1852
 | with2  = [[Edward Warner (1818–1875)|Edward Warner]] 1852–1854
 | before = [[Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington|Marquess of Douro]]<br />[[Benjamin Smith (British Whig politician)|Benjamin Smith]]
 | after  = [[Edward Warner (1818–1875)|Edward Warner]]<br />[[Samuel Bignold|Sir Samuel Bignold]]
 | years  = 1847–1854
}}
{{succession box
 | title  = [[Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for Finsbury]]
 | with   = [[Thomas Slingsby Duncombe]] 1859–1861
 | with2  = [[William Cox (UK politician)|William Cox]] 1861–1865
 | before = [[Thomas Slingsby Duncombe]]<br />[[William Cox (UK politician)|William Cox]]
 | after  = [[William McCullagh Torrens]]<br />[[Sir Andrew Lusk, 1st Baronet|Sir Andrew Lusk]]
 | years  = 1859–1865
}}
{{succession box
 | title  = [[Bristol (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for Bristol]]
 | with   = [[Henry Fitzhardinge Berkeley]]
 | before = [[Henry Fitzhardinge Berkeley]]<br />[[Henry Gore-Langton]]
 | after  = [[Henry Fitzhardinge Berkeley]]<br />[[John Miles (MP for Bristol)|John Miles]]
 | years = 1865–1868
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{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new | creation }}
{{s-ttl
 | title = [[Peto Baronets|Baronet]]<br />'''(of Somerleyton Hall)'''
 | years = 1855–1889
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{{s-aft | after= Henry Peto }}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peto, Samuel Morton}}
[[Category:1809 births]]
[[Category:1889 deaths]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom|Peto, Samuel Morton, 1st Baronet]]
[[Category:British railway entrepreneurs]]
[[Category:British railway civil engineers]]
[[Category:British people of the Crimean War]]
[[Category:English civil engineering contractors]]
[[Category:Harbour engineers]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:People from Woking]]
[[Category:English expatriates in Hungary]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1847–1852]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1852–1857]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1859–1865]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1865–1868]]
[[Category:Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:19th-century English businesspeople]]