Samuel Brooks (railway pioneer)

Samuel Brooks (12 August 1793 – 7 June 1864) was an English cotton manufacturer and banker.

He was born at Great Harwood, near Whalley in Lancashire, England, the second son of William Brooks. In 1815 he became a partner in his father’s Blackburn-based business, Cunliffe Brooks & Co. This business supplied cotton and/or textile equipment, and also ran a bank as a sideline. Around 1819 his father set up Samuel and his two brothers as junior partners in three separate firms of calico printers in Manchester. Samuel opened a small branch of his father’s bank in a corner of his warehouse. Gradually, banking became his principal activity, and in 1826 the bank moved to its own premises. It soon became established as one of Manchester’s leading banks. In 1900 it was absorbed by Lloyd's Bank to provide them with a presence in the Manchester area.

Subsequently Brooks established the first housing estates in Whalley Range (which he named) and Brooklands (which acquired its name from common usage).

William Cunliffe Brooks was the son of Samuel Brooks and his wife Margaret, née Hall, daughter of Thomas Hall.

In 1830, Brooks chaired the first meeting of the promoters of the Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR). Subsequently he became its first deputy chairman.

Initially the M&LR placed its Manchester terminus at Oldham Road but they had a firm plan to establish a station more centrally. Samuel Brooks had purchased land at Hunt's Bank and in August 1838 he informed the board that,"...if you require any portion of that land, you shall have it on reasonable terms". He went on to pledge that the company would not be prejudiced by his holding the land, and that he had offers in hand but would not sell until he knew the board's intentions. The board gratefully accepted this offer. So the company were able to build Manchester Victoria station a few years later.

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