Samuel Courtauld (c.1793–22 March 1881) was an American-born British industrialist who developed his family firm,

Courtaulds Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtauld ...

, to become eventually the world's largest textile company.

Family

Samuel Courtauld was the eldest son of George Courtauld, founder of ''George Courtauld and Co.'' The Courtauld family were descendants of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

refugees who had settled in London and developed, over several generations, a highly regarded business as

metalsmith A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest list of metalworking occupations, metalworking o ...

s, working in both

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. Courtauld's father, a younger son, had made two innovations to the tradition. Firstly, George Courtauld founded a business in textiles rather than silverware and as this business is still a leading concern to this day, it is with textiles that most people associate the family. However, in the 18th century the family was as renowned for its silverware, as it would be in the 19th century for its silk and crepe and in the 20th century for its man-made textiles. The second change to tradition was that George Courtauld, baptised in the French Protestant church of the London Huguenots, would become a keen Unitarian. Samuel Courtauld would follow his father in both regards. Samuel Courtauld adopted Louisa Ruth Lowe (née Harris) after her mother died of puerperal fever some eleven days after her birth. When he died in 1881, she inherited his Essex estate of Gosfield Hall and much of his fortune.

Business

The Courtauld textile business was founded in 1794 in

Pebmarsh Pebmarsh is a small village and a civil parish in the Braintree District, in Essex, England. It is situated to the north east of Halstead close to the A131. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Twinstead. A plaque ...

in Essex. The business was originally "throwsters", that is producers of yarn, but later specialised in weaving as in silk and crepe fabrics. George Courtauld and his cousin Peter Taylor (1790–1850) developed the business over two decades, but faced difficulties in the lean years following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, when competition from the Continent was restored. In 1816, the father decided to retire from the business and hand over his share of the business to his son; it was to be the making of the firm. After a couple of years getting to grips with the business and bringing it back to profitability, the new manager felt sufficiently confident to embark on a major programme of expansion and innovation. In 1818, Samuel Courtauld built two further mills, at

Halstead Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011Bocking. At the end of 1824 the Halstead Mill was sold to Stephen Beuzeville. In 1825, Samuel. installed a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

at the Bocking mill. An agreement dated 19 January 1825 was drawn up between Beuzeville and Samuel Courtauld and his partners for the conversion of the Halstead mill for silk throwing. Beuzeville was to provide the expertise, capital, and supply the silk; Courtauld was to erect the machinery

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom. Shuttle looms The main components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses, shuttle, reed, and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations ...

s and operate the mill in return for a share in the profits; Beuzeville was to take delivery of the yarn and manufacture the crepe for which he was a technical expert of 20 years experience. The mill appears to have been in operation by the summer of 1825, with Joseph Ash as manager. The introduction of new technology was important but the mills still remained heavily dependent on manpower, or more accurately, woman-power. The looms required supervision by an army of young female workers and even in 1838, more than 92% of the workforce was female. In 1827 Stephen Beuzeville was declared bankrupt; a formal deed of sale dated 11 April 1828 was created between the commissioners in bankruptcy and Samuel Courtauld, whereby Halstead Mill (subject to charges of £300) was sold to Courtaulds for a cash payment of £1,500. Stephen and his father joined Courtaulds as employees. In 1828, Samuel brought his brother George Courtauld II (1802–1861) into the partnership and as the business developed, further partners were admitted. George Courtauld turned the company from being a relatively insignificant local family firm into a major player in the industry, with a national, or even international, reputation.

Other interests

Courtauld used his growing economic power to support a range of political issues close to his heart. As an active supporter of the Whigs, he supported the momentous

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...

and he also gave financial backing to the work of the Anti-Corn Law League. As an enthusiastic Unitarian, he was involved in the Nonconformist campaign against the paying of

church rate The church rate was a tax formerly levied in each parish in England and Ireland for the benefit of the parish church. The rates were used to meet the costs of carrying on divine service, repairing the fabric of the church and paying the salaries of ...

s to assist Anglican churches. By 1850, Courtauld was, by any estimate, an extremely successful man, in business and finance, but his great wealth was unable to do much to alleviate his increasing

deafness Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is writte ...

. In 1854, Courtauld, now a man of some considerable fortune and standing in society, bought

Gosfield Hall Gosfield Hall is a English country houses, country house in Gosfield, near Braintree, Essex, Braintree in Essex, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The house was built in 1545 by Sir John Wentworth, a member of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal Wo ...

, a

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

dating back to 1545, in the

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

of the same name, not far from

Halstead Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011 listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

but he would never fully enjoy the fruits of these labours as he was too firmly wedded to his business to contemplate retirement. He continued to play an active role in the company until just before he died in March 1881.

Legacy

The great riches generated by the success of the core textile business enabled later members of the family to pursue interests as patrons of the arts and philanthropists as well as in commerce. Notable members included Samuel Courtauld's great-nephews: * Samuel Courtauld (1876–1947): became Chairman of

in 1921, but today is probably better known as the founder of the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

in London. * Sir Stephen Courtauld MC (1883–1967), was also an arts patron and, like the earlier Samuel Courtauld, developed a talent for

restoration. In 1933, began work on

Eltham Palace Eltham Palace is a large house at Eltham ( ) in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The house consists of the medieval great hall of a former royal residence, to which an Art Deco extension was added in the 193 ...

in south-east London, where he and his wife lived until 1944.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Courtauld, Samuel 1790s births 1881 deaths English people of French descent English Unitarians British textile industry businesspeople

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

19th-century English businesspeople