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{{short description|British industrialist, educationalist and politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
{{more footnotes|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Bernhard Samuelson
| image = Sir Bernhard Samuelson.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Sir Bernhard Samuelson
| office1 = [[Banbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for Banbury]]
| term1 = February 1859-April 1859<br/>1865-1895
| party = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1820|11|22|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Hamburg]], Germany
| death_date = {{death date and age|1905|05|10|1820|11|22|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[London]], England
| education =
| spouse = Caroline Blundell ({{abbr|m.|married}} 1844)<br/>Lelia Serena ({{abbr|d.|died}} 1915)
| children = 8, including [[Sir Henry Samuelson, 2nd Baronet|Henry]] and [[Sir Francis Samuelson, 3rd Baronet|Francis]]
}}
'''Sir Bernhard Samuelson, 1st Baronet''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|PC|FRS}} (22 November 1820 – 10 May 1905) was an industrialist, educationalist and a [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] politician who sat in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] in 1859 and from 1865 to 1895.

==Early life==
Samuelson was born in [[Hamburg]], the eldest son of Samuel Hermann Samuelson and his wife Sarah Hertz. His father, who became a merchant in Liverpool, was born in [[Petersburg, Virginia]], and his grandfather Hyman Samuels, was born in London in 1764.<ref name=LR>{{Rayment-hc|b|1|date=March 2012}}</ref> Samuelson was educated at the Rev. J Blezard's school at [[Skirlaugh]], Yorkshire near [[Kingston-upon-Hull|Hull]].<ref name=Debrett>[https://archive.org/stream/debrettshouseo1881londuoft#page/206/mode/2up Debretts House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1881]</ref> He started work in his father's office at the age of 14 and was then apprenticed to a Swiss firm in Liverpool. He was exporting engineering machinery and became manager for a [[Manchester]] firm of [[Sharp, Stewart & Co.]]{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

Samuelson bought a small factory in [[Banbury]] that was manufacturing agricultural equipment in 1848. He also built blast furnaces in [[Middlesbrough]] and [[Newport, Wales|Newport]].{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

==Political career==
In February 1859, after a by-election caused by the resignation of [[Henry William Tancred]], Samuelson was elected as [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Banbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Banbury]] until displaced at the [[1859 United Kingdom general election|1859 general election]]. In 1865 he was elected for Banbury again, but his defeated opponent Charles Bell petitioned against his return on the grounds that he was an alien. Samuelson was able to demonstrate that as his grandfather was born in England he was eligible under the British Nationality Act of 1772. He held the seat until 1895.<ref name=LR/> His interests in Parliament were industrial and technical issues. He chaired committees on [[Select Committee on Scientific Instruction|scientific instruction]], railways and patents and was a member of the Royal Commission for the Paris Exhibition in 1878. Meanwhile, his industrial activities had grown significantly. By 1872, his Banbury works were producing over 8000 reaping machines and the production of iron, tar and other products from his ironworks had also grown.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

==Professional career==
Samuelson was a member of the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] and a member of the [[Institute of Mechanical Engineers]]. A paper on the construction of blast furnaces won him a [[Telford Medal]] in 1871. He was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] in 1881.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=Code==%27NA6639%27&dsqCmd=Show.tcl|title= Fellow Details|publisher= Royal Society|accessdate= 12 December 2016}}</ref>

He was adjudged a considerate employer and developed the institutions of Middlesbrough and Cleveland. He was a firm believer in technical education and presented a technical institute to Banbury in 1884. He received a [[Samuelson Baronets|Baronetcy]] in the same year for services to education. He was made a privy counsellor in the [[1895 Resignation Honours]].{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

==Personal life==
Samuelson had married Caroline Blundell, daughter of Henry Blundell at Hull in 1844. They had eight children. Their eldest son [[Sir Henry Samuelson, 2nd Baronet|Henry]], who succeeded to the baronetcy, was also an MP. The baronetcy later passed to their second son, [[Sir Francis Samuelson, 3rd Baronet|Francis]]. Their third and youngest son, Herbert, was made a [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]] in his own right.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sir Herbert Walter Samuelson (1865 - 1952) |url=https://tombwithaview.org.uk/abg-people/sir-herbert-walter-samuelson/ |website=Tomb with a View |access-date=12 September 2022}}</ref>

After Caroline's death, Bernhard married Lelia Mathilda, daughter of Chevalier Leon Serena and the widow of William Denny of Dumbarton. A volunteer nurse with the [[Voluntary Aid Detachments]], she died of an illness contracted on duty on 18 June 1915.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lady Lelia Samuelson |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205381135 |website=Imperial War Museum}}</ref>
[[File:Bernhardt Samuelson mausoleum. Inside and empty.jpg|thumb|Inside Samuelson's mausoleum]]
[[File:Mausoleum of Bernhardt Samuelson near Ockham, Surrey.jpg|thumb|Exterior of Samuelson's mausoleum]]
Samuelson died in London in 1905 at the age of 84 and was buried in Torquay. {{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

A stone memorial and tomb to Bernhard Samuelson was erected by his eldest son: it lies hidden and overgrown in Hatchford Wood, close to [[Ockham, Surrey]], and bears the motto of the second baronet. According to the inscription, this "Temple of Sleep" contains the last mortal remains of Bernhard Samuelson, his wife and a daughter. The mausoleum is now empty (August 2020) and various sculpture work appears to have been removed.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}
[[File:Inscription on Bernard Samuelson mausoleum.jpg|thumb|Inscription on Samuelson's mausoleum]]
[[File:Remains of removed sculpture in Bernhardt Samuelson mausoleum.jpg|thumb|Remains of removed sculpture in Samuelson's mausoleum]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101035930/ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]
*[https://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/samuelson.html Oxfordshire Blue Plaques]
*[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v72/n1855/abs/072060a0.html Nature 72, 60-61 (18 May 1905) ]

== External links==
*{{Hansard-contribs | mr-bernhard-samuelson | Bernhard Samuelson }}

{{S-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Banbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for Banbury]]
| years = February 1859 – [[1859 United Kingdom general election|April 1859]]
| before = [[Henry William Tancred]]
| after = [[Charles Eurwicke Douglas|Sir Charles Eurwicke Douglas]]
}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Banbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Member of Parliament for Banbury]]
| years = [[1865 United Kingdom general election|1865]]–[[1895 United Kingdom general election|1895]]
| before = [[Charles Eurwicke Douglas|Sir Charles Eurwicke Douglas]]
| after = [[Albert Brassey]]
}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new|Creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Samuelson baronets|Baronet]]<br />'''(of Bodicote)''' | years=1884–1905}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Henry Samuelson]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelson, Sir Bernhard}}
[[Category:1820 births]]
[[Category:1905 deaths]]
[[Category:English Jews]]
[[Category:English industrialists]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1857–1859]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1865–1868]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1868–1874]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1874–1880]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1880–1885]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1885–1886]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1886–1892]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1892–1895]]
[[Category:Samuelson baronets|1]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:19th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:Jewish English politicians]]

Bernhard Samuelson - Revision history

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