Samuel Whitbread (1720–1796)

Samuel Whitbread ( born August 30, 1720 in Cardington, † June 11, 1796 ) was an English politician and entrepreneur.

Life

Samuel Whitbread was the fifth son of Henry Whitbread, a resident in Bedfordshire small landowner, and his second wife Elizabeth (nee Read). In July 1757 he married Harriet Hayton († April 1764 ). The marriage produced a son and two daughters were born. In August 1769 he married Lady Mary Cornwallis, daughter of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Earl Cornwallis. From this marriage a daughter emerged.

Whitbread went into a London brewery in teaching. In 1742, he acquired together with its partners and Thomas Godfrey Shewell and a starting capital of 2,000 to 3,000 pounds a small brewery in London's Old Street. In the following years the entrepreneurial management of the brewery was in Whitbread's hands. 1750, the brewery was moved to the Chiswell Street. At this time he had established the company as a leading Porter Brewery in London. 1761 Whitbread's assets included 116,000 pounds and the brewery was fully in his possession. In the next few years he made ​​the company the largest and most technically advanced brewery in the country. 1790 included the capital of the brewery 271 240 pounds.

From 1761 Whitbread acquired land in Cardington, where his father had already possessed land, and around, making him one of the largest landowners in the county. In addition, he earned Bedfordshire 1760-1785 Lander estates in Hertfordshire and six other counties. The total number of his property thus amounted to 4,500 acre. From 1767 to 1768 he held the office of High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. In 1768 he stood as a candidate in the constituency of Bedford, which also included Cardington, for a seat in the House of Commons. This he was a member until 1774. Although the could not defend his seat in 1774 in this constituency, it gets him in 1775 with the help of a petition again in the House of Commons to collect, to which he belonged, this time to 1790. In 1791 he ran unsuccessfully in constituency Steyning. With the help of a petition, however, he was able to move for that constituency in the House of Commons in May 1792. In 1796 he opted not to run again. In the last ten years of his life, as the profits from his brewery were highest, he quadrupled his estate in Bedfordshire. Among other things, he acquired 1795 in Southill the later family home of the Whitbread. At the time of his death included his land over 12,000 acres.