Sir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet
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Sir Samuel Cunard, Bt |
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| Born |
21 November 1787 Halifax, Nova Scotia |
| Died | 28 April 1865 (aged 77) Kensington, London, England |
| Occupation | Shipping magnate |
Sir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet (21 November 1787 – 28 April 1865), was a Canadian shipping magnate, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who founded the Cunard Line. He was the son of a master carpenter and timber merchant who had fled the American Revolution and settled in Halifax.
Samuel Cunard was the second son of Abraham Cunard who was originally from Germany and raised a Quaker, and Margaret Murphy, who was raised as an Irish Catholic. They were Loyalists to the British Crown who came to Halifax in 1783. Abraham Cunard was a master carpenter who worked for the British garrison in Halifax and became a wealthy landowner and timber merchant. Cunard's business skills were evident early in his teens: he was managing his own general store from stock he obtained in broken lots at wharf auction. He later joined his father in the family timber business, which expanded into investments in shipping.
During the War of 1812, Cunard volunteered for service in the 2nd Battalion of the Halifax Regiment militia and rose to the rank of captain. He held many public offices, such as volunteer fireman and lighthouse commissioner, and maintained a reputation as not only a shrewd businessman, but also an honest and generous citizen.
Cunard was a highly successful entrepreneur in Halifax shipping and one of a group of twelve individuals who dominated the affairs of Nova Scotia. He secured mail packet contracts and provided a fisheries patrol vessel for the province. Cunard diversified his family's timber and shipping business with investments in whaling, tea imports and coal mining, as well as the Halifax Banking Company and the Shubenacadie Canal. The whaling ships, sent far into the Southern Atlantic, seldom if ever turned a profit. He purchased large amounts of land in Prince Edward Island, at one point owning a seventh of the province, which involved him in the protracted disputes between tenants on the island and the absentee landlords who owned most of it.
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