Samuel Isaac (1812 – 22 November 1886) was a merchant and a projector of the

Mersey Railway Tunnel The Mersey Railway was the first part of the passenger railway connecting the communities of Liverpool, Birkenhead, and now the rest of the Wirral Peninsula in England, which lie on opposite banks of the River Mersey, via the Mersey Railway Tun ...

Early life

Isaac, son of Lewis Isaac of

Poole, Dorsetshire Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

, by Catherine, daughter of N. Solomon of

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

, was born at

Chatham, Kent Chatham ( ) is a town located within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. The town developed around Chatham ...

in 1815. Coming to London as a young man, he established a large business as an army contractor in

Jermyn Street Jermyn Street is a one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing retailers. Hist ...

, trading as Isaac, Campbell, & Company. His brother,

Saul Isaac Saul Isaac (1823 – late 1903) was an English businessman and Conservative Party politician. He was the first Jew to be elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative candidate. Isaac was a partner in the army contracting business run by h ...

, J. P., afterwards member for

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

1874–80, was associated with him in partnership.

Confederate war

The firm during the Confederate war in America were the largest European supporters of the southern states. Their ships, outward bound with military stores and freighted home with cotton, were the most enterprising of blockade-runners between 1861 and 1865. Isaac's eldest son Henry, who died at Nassau, West Indies, during the war, had much to do with this branch of the business. Having raised a regiment of volunteers from among the workmen of his own factory at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, Isaac was rewarded with the military rank of major. He and his firm were large holders of Confederate funds, and were consequently ruined on the conclusion of the American war in 1865.

Mersey railway tunnel

In 1880 he acquired the rights of the promoters of the

, and himself undertook the making of the tunnel, letting the works to Messrs. Waddell, and employing as engineers Mr.

James Brunlees Sir James Brunlees FRSE MICE (1816 – 1892) was a Scottish civil engineer. He was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 1882-3. He was born in Kelso in the Scottish Borders in 1816. Early life Brunlees was the son of John Brun ...

and Sir Douglas Fox. The Right Hon. H. C. Raikes became chairman, with the Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie as vice-chairman, of the company formed to carry through the undertaking. Money was raised, and the boring was completed under Isaac's superintendence on 17 January 1884. The tunnel was opened on 13 February 1885; the first passenger train ran through on 22 December; it was formally opened by

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

when Prince of Wales, 20 January 1886.

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

, 30 January 1886, pp. 111, 112

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

accepted from Isaac a jewelled representation of the tunnel, in which the speck of light at the end of the excavation was represented by a brilliant. He formed a collection of paintings containing some of the best works of Mr. B. W. Leader, A.R.A. Isaac died at 29 Warrington Crescent, Maida Vale, London, leaving £203,084 17s. 9d.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac, Samuel 1812 births 1886 deaths English Jews People from Poole 19th-century English businesspeople Jewish Confederates