(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Viscount Bearsted, the former Marcus Samuel, founder of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, died here yesterday at the age of 73.
Lord Bearsted died within twenty-four hours of the death of his wife, Lady Bearsted, the former Fanny Elizabeth Benjamin, the only daughter of the late Benjamin Benjamin.
Lord Bearsted rendered valuable service to the cause of the Allies during the war through his oil business. Before he founded the company, he was engaged in a small business in Houndsditch, London, trading mainly in seashells.
It was during a visit to Japan that he became acquainted with the petroleum industry. He started in a small way as the shipper of oil from Russia to the Far East, and the business gradually developed into the huge organzation of today. He was closely associated with the Japanese government in the development of trade. His firm was entrusted with the issue of the first Japanese £ 4,500,000 gold loan.
Lord Bearsted, who was made a Viscount on the King’s birthday in June, 1925, introduced the transportation of petroleum in bulk through the Suez Canal, and is said to have done more than any other British subject to develop the oil fields of the East.
He was made a Baronet in 1903 on completing his term as Lord Mayor of London. In May, 1915, he received a vote of thanks from the Admiralty for “services of the utmost importance to the fighting forces at the present time.”
His heir is his only son, Captain Walter Horace Samuel, 43 years old, who is chairman of the Shell Transport and Trading Company. He won the Military Cross as a Captain of Artillery in the World War. Another son, George, a Captain in the Royal Kent Regiment, was killed at the front in 1917. Lord Bearstead was a vice-president of the League of British Jews, Jew’s College and the Hayes School for Jewish Boys.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
