Samuel Carter (Coventry MP)

{{Short description|English lawyer (1805–1878)}} {{For|the [[Tavistock (UK Parliament constituency)|Tavistock]] MP|Samuel Carter (Tavistock MP)}} {{other people|Samuel Carter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = |name = Samuel Carter |honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MP}} |image = |alt = |caption = |office = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br> for [[Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)|Coventry]] |parliament = |majority = |term_start = 26 March 1868 |term_end = 17 November 1868 |alongside = [[Henry Eaton, 1st Baron Cheylesmore|Henry Eaton]] |predecessor = [[Sir Henry Jackson, 2nd Baronet|Henry Jackson]]<br />[[Henry Eaton, 1st Baron Cheylesmore|Henry Eaton]] |successor = [[Henry Eaton, 1st Baron Cheylesmore|Henry Eaton]]<br />[[Alexander Staveley Hill]] |birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1805|5|15}} |birth_place = [[Coventry]], [[Warwickshire]], England |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1878|01|31|1805|05|15}} |death_place = [[Paddington, London]], England |resting_place = [[Kenilworth]], [[Warwickshire]], England |alma_mater = |birth_name = |party = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] |spouse = {{marriage|Maria Ronalds|1833}} |children = Four, including [[Hugh Carter (painter)|Hugh Carter]] and [[John Corrie Carter]] }}

'''Samuel Carter''' (15 May 1805 – 31 January 1878) was a [[member of parliament]] for his native city of [[Coventry]], and [[solicitor]] to two major railway companies (the [[London and North Western Railway]] and [[Midland Railway]]) for nearly four decades during the development of Britain's rail network.<ref name="Carter1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sirfrancisronalds.co.uk/maria.html|title=Maria Carter née Ronalds|website=Sir Francis Ronalds and his Family|access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Carter2">{{Cite book|title=Sir Francis Ronalds: Father of the Electric Telegraph|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|publisher=Imperial College Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-78326-917-4|location=London}}</ref><ref name="Carter3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.uudb.org/carter-samuel/|title=Samuel Carter|website=Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography|access-date=29 January 2025}}</ref>

==Life and family== Born into a family of the [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] faith,<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1878|title=Samuel Carter, Esq|journal=Christian Life|volume=3|pages=75}}</ref> his father Samuel was the Coventry prison keeper for many years and his mother Jane was the daughter of Josiah Corrie, a minister in [[Kenilworth]]. He attended the school of his uncle John Corrie [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]], who was long-time president of the [[Birmingham Philosophical Institution]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1840|title=Sketch of the Character of the late John Corrie|journal=Christian Reformer|volume=7|pages=346–347}}</ref> Marrying Sir [[Francis Ronalds]]' youngest sister Maria in 1833, they had four children: Alexander, [[Hugh Carter (painter)|Hugh]],<ref>{{cite DNB12|wstitle=Carter, Hugh|volume=1}}</ref> [[John Corrie Carter|John Corrie]] and Jane.<ref name="Carter2" /> In the 1855–1875 period, they resided at [[Battle, East Sussex|Battle]] in a substantial estate called Quarry Hill.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=2018|title=The Ronalds–Carter Family in 19th-Century Battle|url=http://btckstorage.blob.core.windows.net/site15733/Web%20O/O1.12%20Ronalds%20Carter%20Battle.pdf|journal=Collectanea, Battle and District Historical Society|volume=O1.12}}</ref> Samuel died in [[London]], and was buried in the family vault in Kenilworth.<ref name="Carter4">{{Cite news|title=The Late Mr Samuel Carter|date=8 Feb 1878|work=Coventry Herald|page=3}}</ref>

==Railway solicitor== Samuel had been articled to his uncle Josiah Corrie, a lawyer in [[Birmingham]], and their partnership was appointed as solicitors to the proposed [[London & Birmingham Railway]] (L&BR) in 1830.<ref name="Carter3" /><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1878|title=The Late Mr Carter|journal=Solicitors' Journal|volume=22|pages=302}}</ref>

They also acted as solicitors to various lines that were planned to connect other communities with the new trunkline. One was the [[Birmingham & Derby Railway]] (B&DR) to which Corrie & Carter was appointed in 1835. B&DR joined with other companies in 1844 to form the [[Midland Railway]], with Carter being one of the solicitors to the amalgamation bill (Corrie having died).<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Midland Railway|last=Williams|first=F.S.|year=1888|edition=5th}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=History of the Midland Railway|last=Stretton|first=C.E.|year=1901}}</ref>

Some sources suggest that Carter was instrumental in the decision to establish the [[Railway Clearing House]] in 1841, when he and his good friend [[Robert Stephenson]] advised the directors of L&BR and B&DR, two of the founding members, on its merits.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Our Home Railways|last=Gordon|first=W.J.|publisher=Frederick Warne & Co|year=1910|volume=2}}</ref>

Carter was also a solicitor to the bill enabling L&BR to amalgamate with other companies to form the [[London & North Western Railway]] (L&NWR) in 1846. By now he had opened a second office in London and he soon acquired a home near [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]].<ref name="odnb">{{Cite ODNB|id=49346|title=Carter, Samuel}}</ref> He later purchased a property at [[Battle, East Sussex|Battle]].<ref name="Carter1" /><ref name="walford">{{cite book|last1=Walford|first1=Edward|title=The County Families of the United Kingdom Or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland|date=1869|publisher=R Hardwicke|page=181|edition=5th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9EkzFlBgz0C&pg=PA181|accessdate=12 February 2018}}</ref>

L&NWR and Midland Railway were quite commonly aligned in the years following and he was able to represent them jointly. This happened for example with the [[Worcester & Hereford Railway]], where he spoke on behalf of both companies at shareholder meetings and served as solicitor to its parliamentary bills.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1851|title=Proposed Railway from Worcester to Hereford|journal=Railway Record|volume=8|pages=426–427}}</ref>

The 1845–1846 parliamentary session saw the peak of [[Railway Mania]] and the beginnings of the [[History of rail transport in Great Britain 1830–1922#"The Battle of the Gauges"|Battle of the Gauges]], in both of which Carter was much occupied. He and [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]] apparently negotiated a territorial boundary in early 1846 between Brunel's [[Great Western Railway]] (GWR) and its affiliates on the broad gauge, and the [[standard gauge]] L&NWR and Midland companies, but it was overturned.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1847|title=The Dispute between the London and North-Western and Great Western Companies|journal=Railway Times|pages=6–8}}</ref> Thereafter, Carter fought the spread of the broad gauge in various contests in parliament and the courts. He and Stephenson cited the dangers of rival companies using the same infrastructure on different gauges, requiring GWR to build its own stations in Birmingham and elsewhere.<ref name="Carter3" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=BF|date=Spring 2018|title=Samuel Carter (1805-78): Early Railway Solicitor|journal=Midland Railway Society Journal|volume=67|pages=11–13}}</ref>

Some of his last parliamentary contests enabled Midland to build its own routes into London to its new [[St Pancras railway station|St Pancras station]] and to Scotland on its [[Settle & Carlisle line]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Midland Railway-(Extension to London)|date=1862|work=The Gazette, Official Public Record|pages=5627–5628}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1867|title=London & North-Western - Midland|journal=Railway Times|volume=30|pages=502–504}}</ref>

==Member of parliament== {{See also|Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)}} Carter was a staunch [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] in his politics and had participated in the [[Birmingham Political Union]] in the 1830s.<ref name="Carter3" /> In a by-election in March 1868, he was elected to parliament for Coventry, which triggered his retirement from railway business. His [[maiden speech]] in the house was in support of the proposed [[Irish Church Act 1869|Irish Church Act]] to disestablish the (Anglican) Church of Ireland. He had only a very short parliamentary term however as he and his Liberal colleague [[Sir Henry Jackson, 2nd Baronet|Henry Jackson]] were defeated in the general election in November 1868. He lost again in 1874.<ref name="Carter4" /><ref name="craig1832">{{cite book|editor1-last=Craig|editor1-first=F. W. S.|editor-link=F. W. S. Craig|title=British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885|date=1977|publisher=Macmillan Press|location=London|isbn=978-1-349-02349-3|edition=1st|type=e-book}}</ref>

==Benefactor to Coventry== Carter funded the building of the [[Coventry School of Art and Design|Coventry School of Art]], laying the foundation stone in 1862. He also donated £1,000 towards the Free Library.<ref name="Carter4" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Walks through Coventry|last=Caldicott|first=C.|year=1884}}</ref>

==Publications== Carter published several [[pamphlets]] in the 1870s illustrating to railway [[shareholders]] that the new Railway Commissioners had been given powers to reduce rates and tolls from the amounts permitted in the companies' [[Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom|acts of parliament]], thereby jeopardising their investments.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/railwaylegislat00cartgoog|quote=Carter.|title=Railway Legislation|publisher=Nichols & Sons|last=Carter|first=S.|year=1874}}</ref> His warnings created little consternation at the time but there was uproar a decade later when these powers became more explicit in the 1886 Railway and Canal Traffic bill.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Conceiving Companies|last=Alborn|first=T.L.|publisher=Routledge|year=2014}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}} *

==External links== * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-samuel-carter | Samuel Carter }} (''Note: This source incorrectly confuses with [[Samuel Carter (Tavistock MP)]]'')

{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef| before = [[Sir Henry Jackson, 2nd Baronet|Henry Jackson]] |before2= [[Henry Eaton, 1st Baron Cheylesmore|Henry Eaton]] }} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for [[Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)|Coventry]] | years = [[1868 Coventry by-election|March 1868]] – [[1868 United Kingdom general election|November 1868]] | with = [[Henry Eaton, 1st Baron Cheylesmore|Henry Eaton]] }} {{s-aft| after= [[Henry Eaton, 1st Baron Cheylesmore|Henry Eaton]] |after2 = [[Alexander Staveley Hill]] }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Samuel}} [[Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]] [[Category:UK MPs 1865–1868]] [[Category:1805 births]] [[Category:1878 deaths]] [[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Coventry]]