Samuel Greg (6 September 1804 – 14 May 1876) was an English

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

and philanthropist. Born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, the son of the elder

Samuel Greg Samuel Greg (26 March 1758 – 4 June 1834) was an Irish-born businessman and industrialist of the Industrial Revolution and a pioneer of the factory system. Born in Belfast, Ireland, he moved to England and built Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, C ...

, the creator of

Quarry Bank Mill Quarry Bank Mill (also known as Styal Mill) in Styal, Cheshire, England, is one of the best preserved Textile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution, textile factories of the Industrial Revolution. Built in 1784, the cotton mill ...

, he was brother to

William Rathbone Greg William Rathbone Greg (1809 – 15 November 1881) was an English essayist. Life Born in Manchester, the son of Samuel Greg, the creator of Quarry Bank Mill, and Hannah Greg, he was brother to Robert Hyde Greg and the junior Samuel Greg. ...

and Robert Hyde Greg. Influenced by the religious beliefs of his mother Hannah, he attended a Unitarian school in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. Further study in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, under Lant Carpenter, and at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

was interspersed with experience in the family firm and completed by the, then obligatory, Grand Tour. Already more interested in the consequences of wealth rather than its creation, in 1830 and 1831 he gave lectures on scientific subjects to the workers at ''Quarry Bank''. On his father's retirement in 1832, he took over management of Lowerhouse Mill in

Bollington Bollington is a town and civil parish in Cheshire, England, to the east of Prestbury. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Earl of Chester's manor of Macclesfield and the ancient parish of Prestbury. At the 2021 census, the parish had a pop ...

, Cheshire and used it as a basis for further social experimentation. He published his ideas on the model factory village in ''Two Letters to

Leonard Horner Leonard Horner FRSE FRS FGS (17 January 1785 – 5 March 1864) was a Scottish merchant, geologist and educational reformer. He was the younger brother of Francis Horner. Horner was a founder of the School of Arts of Edinburgh, now Heriot- ...

on the Capabilities of the Factory System'' (1840) and went on to found a number of educational and social institutions in Bollington. However, in 1847, he introduced new machinery in his mills which was so unpopular that it precipitated a strike. In consequence, Greg suffered from a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

and retired to his Bollington home, ''The Mount''. Thereon, he restricted his philanthropy to scientific lectures for the workers of

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

, becoming president of the

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was founded in London in 1826, mainly at the instigation of Whig MP Henry Brougham, with the object of publishing information to people who were unable to obtain a formal education or who ...

. Greg wrote the hymn ''Stay, Master, stay'', based on the gospel story of the

Transfiguration of Jesus The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event described in the New Testament where Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is Transfiguration (religion), transfigured and becomes radiant in Glory (religion), glory upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels (, , ) r ...

. Greg married Mary Priscilla Needham in 1838 and she had two sons and six daughters with him. He died in Bollington in 1876 after a long illness. His daughter Bertha married Hugh Ronalds, brother and business partner of Dr

Edmund Ronalds Edmund Ronalds FCS FRSE (18 June 1819 – 9 September 1889) was an English academic and industrial chemist. He was co-author of a seminal series of books on chemical technology that helped begin university teaching of chemical applications for ...

Bibliography

*Rose, M.B. (1986) ''The Gregs of Quarry Bank Mill: The Rise and Decline of the Family Firm, 1750–1914'' *Stanley, A.P. (ed.) (1877) ''A Layman's Legacy in Prose and Verse: Selections from the Papers of Samuel Greg'' with a biographical memoir

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greg, Samuel Businesspeople from Manchester People from Bollington 1804 births 1876 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 19th-century English businesspeople