OBITUARY. SIR SAMUEL MORTON PETO, Bart, 1809-1889

400 SIR HENRY ARTHUR HUNT. [Obituary. betraying his opinion of them either by look or gesture. Never wasmanner more inscrutable.He took very brief notes, being giftedwith a most retentive memory,and almost invariably making his awards while the matter and evidence were fresh in his mind. Duringthe last three or fouryears of his life,his health, whichhad previously been uniformly good,became visibly impaired, though he remained in perfect possession of his faculties to the end. His deathtook place at Folkestone, on the 13th of January, 1889, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

SIR SAMUEL MORTON PETO, Bart., wasborn on the 4th of August, 1809, at WhitmoorHouse, Sutton, inthe parish of Woking. At school heearly showed atalent for drawing,and while apprenticed to his uncle, Mr. Henry Peto, the builder, at the conclusion of his day’s work in the joiner’s shop, he attended a technical school, andlater received lessons fromaclever draughtsman, Mr.Maddox, at Furnival’s Inn, and from another architect, Mr. Beazley, when he became acquainted with the late CharlesMathews, the actor, whowas articled there. Mathews’ heart was by no means in this profession, and Sir Morton earned his gratitude by taking home his drawings and finishing them for him, thus early showing the kindly thoughtfulness for others, a leading featurein his character. After three yearsin the carpenter’s shop, Sir Morton went through the routineof bricklayers’ work, and prided himself on being a first-rate performer, and able to lay his eight hundred bricks per diem. He was later entrusted with the supervision of buildings undertaken by Mr. Peto, among others a house for Horace Twiss, in Carlton Gardens, andRaymond‘s Build- ings, in Gray’s Inn.His articles expired in 1830, and inthat year Mr. Pet0 died, andleft the business tohis twonephews, Bfr. Thomas Grissell (afterwards of Norbury Park), and Sir Morton Peto. The firm of Grissell andPeto, during their partnership, executedmany buildings of importance. Thefirst was the Hungerford Market, obtained in public competition ; afterwards they built the Reform, Conservative, and Oxford and Cambridge Club-houses, the Lyceum, St. James’s,and Olympic Theatres (the first twowere completedin sixteen and tenweeks respectively), the Nelson Column, all the Great Western Railwayworks between Hanwelland Langley (including the Hanwell Viaduct, but

excludingthe embankment),a largepart of the South-Eastern Railway,and the Woolwich Graving Dock. It was duringthe construction of therailway works above mentioned that Mr. Grissell and Sir M. Pet0 severed partnership, the former retaining the building contracts, including the contract for the Houses of Parliament,which had been commenced bythe firm, and Sir Morton retainingthe railway contracts. Differences arose con- cerningthe payment for theHanwell Viaduct :-the contract provided for arbitration or reference tothe Engineer-in-Chief. Sir Morton chose the latter course; he met Mr. Brunel evening after evening after dinner, and all theaccounts were gonethrough together,and after a twelvemonth the latter certified the sum claimed, S162,000, to be correct, but the firm had had to borrow rE100,OOO to carry on the works.Among the workstaken over single-handed by Sir Mortonwas a large portion of the South- Eastern Railway, that between Folkestone and Hythe, including the viaduct and tunnel, and the Martello Towers; the late Mr. E. L. Betts, Sir Morton’s subsequent partner, had undertaken the construction of the railway between Reigate and Folkestone. Sir Morton also alone constructed large portions of the then Eastern Counties Railway between Wymondham and Dereham, Ely and Peterborough, Chatteris and St. Ives, Norwich and Brandon ; also the sections between London and Cambridge, Cambridge and Ely, the Dorsetshire portion of the London and South-Western Railway, and the works in connection with the improvement of the Severn navigation, under Sir William Cubitt. The memoir ofMr. E. L. Betts, published in 1872-3, enumerates the works undertaken by the firmPet0 and Betts.l They embraced the loop-line of the Great Northern Railway,from Peterborough through Lincolnshire to Doncaster ; the East Lincolnshire line, connecting Boston with Louth; the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway; the first section of the Buenos Ayres GreatSouthern Railway, the Dunabergand Witepsk Railway; the line betweenBlidah and Algiers, and the boulevards with warehouses underneath at the latter place ; the Oxford and Birmingham Railway (including the Harbury cutting) ; the Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester Railway ; the South London and Crystal Palace Railway ; the East Suffolk section of the Great Eastern Railway; the Victoria Docks (London) ; the Norwegian Grand Trunk Railway (between Christiania and Eidsvold), and the Thames Graving Docks. In connection with Mr. Brassey and Mr. Betts were executed

Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. xxxvi. p. 286. [THE INST. C.E. VOL. XCIX.] 2D

Downloaded by [] on [11/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 402 SIRMORTON SAMUEL PETO. [Obituary. lines of railway in Australia, the Grand Trunk Railwayof Canada (including the Victoria Bridge), the Canada Works (Birkenhead), the Jutland and Schleswig lines (under Mr. Bidder, Past President Inst. C.E.),the railway between LyonsandAvignon,and the Tilbury and SouthendRailway. Sir Morton Peto, Mr. Betts,and Mr. Crampton were in partnership in carrying out thecontracts of the Rustchuk and Varna Railway and the Ikletropolitan extensions of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway; Messrs. Pet0 and Betts constructed the portion between Strood and the ElephantCastle. and Sir M. Pet0 subsequently negotiated, without success, for works in connection with theimprovement of the Danube navigation, and for railway works in Portugal. His last railway contract was one for the construction of the CornwallMineral Railways. From 1847 to 1853 Sir Morton sat in Parliament for Norwich; from 1859 to 1863 for Finsbury,and from1865 to 1868 for Bristol. During the first period he aided in starting the Great Exhibition of 1851, by offering a guarantee of 550,000 in its support, and was subsequently one of Her Majesty’s Commissioners. During the Crimean War, the difficulty experienced in providing the troops with food and clothing led him to suggest to Lord Palmerston the construction of a railway between Balaclava and the entrenchments. The Duke of Newcastle, the then Secretary for War, adopted the pro- posal, and a line of 39 miles inlength was laid down,which proved of much service to the expedition. Thelittle army of navvieswas admirably provided for, andthe death-rate among them was less than the death-rate in London for the same period. The firm of Pet0 and Betts presented vouchers for every item of expenditure,and received payment without commission. The contract being under Government, though without profit, obliged Sir Morton to resign his seat in Parliament, and he subsequently had the baronetcy conferred for the services thus rendered by his firm. AfterSir Morton’s retirementfrom Parliament, he lived principalIy at Eastcote House, Pinner, and subsequentIy at Black- hurst, Tunbridge Wells, where he died on the 13th of November, 1889. Sir Morton’s career is interesting, not only from the vast amount of work achieved by one man, but as recalling the leading civil engineers of the first half of this century, and most of whom had been, or subsequently became, Presidents of the Institution. His genial manners procured him their friendship, and won for him the affectionate regard of his agents. He was wont to speak with pleasure of the confidence Mr. George Stephenson gave him. An incident in the construction of the Eastern Counties Railway led tothe trust Stephenson implicitlyput inthe contractor.

Stephenson had expressed his dissatisfaction at a wooden bridge which had been erected. The contractsdid not thenminutely specify the works asthey now do. Sir Morton,on hisown authority, adopted a drawing from the office, and an iron bridge was substituted.Stephenson expressed hissurprise, and said he had not ordered it ; but on the contractor’s reminding him that he was bound to execute the work to the satisfaction of his chief, and that he had had his previous dissatisfaction in mind, Stephenson expressed hispleasure, and thus commenced a friendshipwhich lasted till the greatengineer’s death. Sir Morton Pet0 wasa member of the Baptist denomination, and henefited the same byproviding the funds for the erection of Bloomsbury and Regent’s Park Chapels ; but his was no narrow mind, and his catholicity was shown when he restored the parish church on hisestate at Somerleyton, andhis liberal creed was acknowledged by a Clergyman and Nonconformista minister joining in performing theburial service at his grave-a not unfitting testimony tothe spirit of theauthor of theBurials Bill. Sir Morton’s large nature was exhibited in the manner he bore his misfortunes, which disappointed hishopes of retiring from business and continuing his parliamentary career. He was never known to brood over the past; but to the last was employed in charitable work in connection with hisdenomination and as one of the trustees of Lady Hewley’s Charity, and nothing gave him more pleasure than being instrumental in starting young men in their career,especially when in connection with engineering works. Just before his retirement, Lord Beaconsfield (then Mr. Disraeli) paida tribute tohis character, sayinghe had recognized with admiration his enterprise and energy, andadded “the House must also sympathise with an Hon. Member who has sat among us for so many years, and who has shown so many high qualities which entitlehim to our respect.” Mr. Gladstone echoed thetribute paid to the Hon. Member for Bristol : “A man who has attained a high position in this country, by the exercise of rare talents, and who has adorned that position by his great virtues.” Sir Morton Pet0 was elected an Associate of the Institution on the 26th of February, 1839.

EDWARD CROFT GREENWAY THOMAS was an Indian civil servant, who, deeply impressed with the conviction that extensive engineering works, constructed and maintained by Government, could alone cope with the evils of constantly recurring famines, 2D2