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Samuel Morton Peto

A Victorian Entrepreneur

Adrian Vaughan

$39.95

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English
Miscellaneous
01 September 2009
Samuel Morton Peto was one of the giants of Victorian Britain who left behind an impressive legacy, evidence of which can still be seen today. Born in 1809, he was an inspired entrepreneur who was, perhaps more than any other individual, responsible for establishing Britain's path to industrial capitalism. An active Member of Parliament, he was one of the most energetic pioneers of Free Trade and a new industrial, social order. To achieve this avant-garde vision, he borrowed and built everything from railways, docks, and harbours to factory towns, dormitory towns, Baptist chapels, dance halls and holiday resorts. Amongst his many famous projects were the Lyceum theatre, Hungerford Market, and Nelson's Column in London, along with several sections of the Great Western Railway, Curzon Street station in Birmingham, and the London, Chatham & Dover Railway. He was also involved in the creation of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, railways in Algeria and the Crimean peninsula during the war, and he financed the Great Exhibition of 1851, backing Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace. Peto's ambition crossed national borders and encompassed European co-operation and Anglo-French finance. In 1857, he was made a baronetof Somerleyton Hall in the County of Suffolk for his services, but ultimately financial crisis caught up with him and he and his family were ruined. He was declared bankrupt in 1868 and exiled himself to Budapest, before returning to England and dying in obscurity in 1889. This biography is the fruit of many years of research by author Adrian Vaughan, and includes the extensive study of the Peto family archives and rare letters. An excellent work chronicling the life of an amazing talent, this is one book that every historian will be proud to own.
By:  
Imprint:   Miscellaneous
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 229mm,  Width: 152mm,  Spine: 23mm
Weight:   499g
ISBN:   9780711033788
ISBN 10:   0711033781
Pages:   192
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Other merchandise
Publisher's Status:   Active

Adrian Vaughan is one of the country's foremost railway historians. He's written over 30 books on various aspects of the railway scene and he has two new volumes out now which he's been talking about on Up All Night. The first is a biography of one of the forgotten men of the Victorian era. He was called Samuel Morton Peto and he was one of the contractors who actually built the railway system. The other book is Adrian's take on the privatisation of the industry in the 1990s which he calls The Greatest Railway Blunder. Born in 1941 Adrian Vaughan spent the first part of his working life as a signalman on the line which was once the Great Western Railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Up All Night's Howard Benson went to talk to him as he worked in the signal box at Sheringham on the North Norfolk Railway. Below you can listen to our three part feature.

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