Samuel Whitbread
A prosperous member of the commercial middle class, writes Roger Fulford, Whitbread made his name as the champion of radicalism and the persistent advocate of unpopular causes.
Samuel Whitbread was born in 1764, the only son of the founder of Whitbread’s brewery. This he inherited in 1796. He was educated at Eton and St. John’s College, Cambridge and represented Bedford in the House of Commons for a quarter of a century from 1790. He conducted the impeachment of Lord Melville in 1806—the last occasion on which that form of procedure was used.
He never held office, nor did he lead the Whig party, though he was their most prominent member during the seven years preceding his death. He rebuilt and furnished Southill Park in Bedfordshire, and largely financed and ran Drury Lane after the fire in 1809. He died by his own hand in 1815.
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