Samuel Morley (MP)

Samuel Morley (15 October 1809 – 5 September 1886), was an English woollen manufacturer, philanthropist, dissenter (Congregationalist), abolitionist, political radical, and statesman.

Samuel Morley was the youngest son of a manufacturer with premises in Nottingham and a warehouse and offices in London. Born in Homerton, at an early age he worked for his father's business in London. When his father and brothers chose to retire, he was left in managerial control. By 1860 he was sole owner of both the London and Nottingham parts of the business, and as it grew rapidly into the largest of its kind in the world he became very wealthy, and a model employer.

Morley took a large residence in Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington when not living at his City of London address. He was a member of Thomas Binney's King's Weigh House Congregational Chapel in Fish Street Hill, London.

He ventured into publishing, becoming one of the proprietors of the 'Daily News', the main Liberal paper of the period. By reducing its price, its losses turned to gains and carried greater influence.

As a Liberal, he was one of Gladstone's keen supporters, and was elected as an MP for Nottingham in 1865, and later Bristol (1868–85).

In later life he became a strong advocate of temperance.

Sometimes called ‘The Philanthropic Merchant’, he was sufficiently eminent to be caricatured in Vanity Fair (15 June 1872). A contemporary biographer, writing in the ‘Annual Register of World Events’, considered that he would be remembered by posterity as one of the leading merchant princes and philanthropists of the century.

Amongst Morley's many philanthropic ventures, at least one continues to make an important contribution to London life today - Morley College - which he endowed for adult education. In his day, he was also treasurer of Homerton College, chairing its inauguration on 20 April 1852 as the new 'Training Institution of the Congregational Board of Education', following purchase, extension and rebuilding on the site of the old mansion and buildings of Homerton Academy.

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