Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted

Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted ( born November 5, 1853 in Whitechapel, . † 16-17 January 1927 in Hamilton Place, London ) was the founder of The Shell Transport and Trading Company, the predecessor of today's Royal Dutch Shell.

Life

His father, also named Marcus Samuel, ran a colonial trade for shells (german shell) with the Far East. Together with his brother Samuel Samuel (1855-1934), who later Samuel & Co. of Yokohama founded and sat on the Conservative party in Parliament, he continued with her business.

1878 Samuel first started to trade with kerosene. On January 19, 1881 he married Fanny Elizabeth Benjamin (* 1858, † January 16, 1927 ).

When he discovered on a shopping trip in 1890 to Batumi to Constantinople Opel that this harbor was full of oil tankers, it seemed a better deal, and he ordered the construction of eight tankers. 1892 was the first tanker, the Murex 5000 t ship a cargo through the Suez Canal.

As we found in 1897 in Borneo oil, he built on the sea route to the Far East trading stations everywhere, and was financed with the help of the Rothschilds. The following year he was elevated to Knight, after two of his tractor had enabled the recovery of the battleship of the Majestic - class HMS Victorious.

1902-1903 was Samuel Lord Mayor of London. In the course of 1903 he was elevated to the baronet.

In 1903, he teamed up with the company of the Dutchman Henri Deterding, which was then renamed the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company. The union, however, was dominated by a long financial difficulties Samuels 60:40 by Dutchman Wilhelm Deterding, who was for many years chairman of the board. Both companies, however, remained until 2005, there were separate.

In 1921, he was charged for his services to the fueling Britain in the First World War to the Baron Bearsted and 1925 Viscount Bearsted. His colleague Robert Waley Cohen learned similar honors.