Samuel Plimsoll (10 February 1824 – 3 June 1898) was a British politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the

Plimsoll line The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that indi ...

(a line on a ship's hull indicating the maximum safe draught, and therefore the minimum

freeboard In sailing and boating, a vessel's freeboard is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship. In commercial vessels, the latter criterion measured relativ ...

for the vessel in various operating conditions).

Early life

Samuel Plimsoll was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

and soon moved to

Whiteley Wood Hall Whiteley Wood Hall was an English country house which was demolished in 1959. It stood off Common Lane in the Fulwood area of Sheffield, England. The hall’s stables and associated buildings are still standing and along with the surrounding gro ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

, also spending part of his childhood in

Penrith, Cumberland Penrith (, , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England, about south of Carlisle. It is less than outside the Lake District National Park, in between the Rivers Petteril and Eamont and just north of the River L ...

. Leaving school at an early age, he became a clerk at Rawson's Brewery, and rose to be manager. In 1853, he attempted to become a coal merchant in London. He failed and was reduced to destitution. He himself told how for a time he lived in a common lodging for seven shillings and two pence a week. Through this experience, he learnt to sympathise with the struggles of the poor, and when his good fortune returned, he resolved to devote his time to improving their condition. His efforts were directed especially against what were known as "

coffin ships A coffin ship () was any of the ships that carried Irish immigrants escaping the Great Irish Famine and Highlanders displaced by the Highland Clearances. Coffin ships carrying emigrants, crowded and disease-ridden, with poor access to food ...

": unseaworthy and overloaded vessels, often heavily insured, in which unscrupulous owners risked the lives of their crews.

Political career

In 1867, Plimsoll was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, and endeavoured in vain to pass a bill dealing with the subject of a safe load line on ships. The main problem was the number of powerful ship-owning MPs in Parliament. In 1872, he published a work entitled ''Our Seamen'', which became well known throughout the country. Accordingly, on Plimsoll's motion in 1873, a Royal Commission was appointed, and in 1875 a government bill was introduced, which Plimsoll, though regarding it as inadequate, resolved to accept. On 22 July, the Prime Minister,

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation ...

, announced that the bill would be dropped. Plimsoll lost his self-control, applied the term "villains" to members of the House, and shook his fist in the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

's face. Disraeli moved that he be reprimanded, but on the suggestion of Lord Hartington agreed to adjourn the matter for a week to allow Plimsoll time for thought. Eventually Plimsoll made an apology. Many people, however, shared his view that the bill had been stifled by the pressure of the shipowners, and popular feeling forced the government to pass a bill which in the following year was amended into the

Merchant Shipping Act Merchant Shipping Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used in Malaysia and the United Kingdom for legislation relating to merchant shipping. Merchant shipping acts and regulations also exist as well in other countries, and they ar ...

. This gave stringent powers of inspection to the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

, and the mark that indicates the safe limit to which a ship may be loaded became generally known as Plimsoll's mark or line. Plimsoll was re-elected for Derby at the uk general election of 1880 by a great majority, but gave up his seat to William Vernon Harcourt, believing that the latter, as Home Secretary, could advance sailors' interests more effectively than any private member. Offered a seat by 30 constituencies, Plimsoll was an unsuccessful candidate in Sheffield Central in

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 &n ...

. He did not re-enter the house, and later became estranged from the Liberal leaders by what he regarded as their breach of faith in neglecting the question of shipping reform. He was for some years the honorary president of the

National Sailors' and Firemen's Union The National Union of Seamen (NUS) was the principal trade union of merchant seafarers in the United Kingdom from the late 1880s to 1990. In 1990, the union amalgamated with the National Union of Railwaymen to form the National Union of Rail, ...

, and drew attention to the horrors of the cattle-ships, where animals were transported under appalling and over-crowded conditions.

Later life

Later, he visited the United States to try to secure the adoption of a less bitter tone towards England in the historical textbooks used in American schools. He died in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

on 3 June 1898, and is buried in St Martin's churchyard, Cheriton, Kent.

Family

Plimsoll married his first wife, Eliza Ann, daughter of Hugh Railton of Chapeltown, near

, in 1858. In Census 1871 they were enumerated in Hastings where Eliza Ann is recorded as being blind in her right eye and deaf in her left ear. She died in Australia in 1882. There were no children by this marriage. He married his second wife, Harriet Frankish, daughter of Mr. Joseph Armitage Wade, J.P., of Hull and

Hornsea Hornsea is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The settlement dates to at least the early medieval period. The town was expanded in the Victorian era with the coming of the Hull and Hornsea Railway in 18 ...

, in 1885. By this marriage there were six children, of whom a son, Samuel Richard Cobden Plimsoll, and two daughters survived him.

Legacy

In 1873, the ''Samuel Plimsoll'', an iron hulled full-rigged merchant sailing ship, was launched at the shipyard of Walter Hood & Co. in Aberdeen, Scotland for the Aberdeen White Star Line (G. Thompson & Co.). She was assigned the official British Reg. No. 65097 and the signal MKDH. In 1899, she caught fire in the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

and had to be scuttled, but was refloated and repaired in 1900. In 1902, she was severely dismasted and damaged on voyage to Port Chalmers, Australia. Towed to Sydney and subsequently to Fremantle, she was reduced to hulk status the following year. In the 1920s,

Plimsoll shoe A pump or plimsoll (British English; see other names below) is a type of athletic shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole developed initially as beachwear. Pumps have solid rubber soles about 8 or 9 mm thick, to which the canvas is glued with ...

s were named for their similarity in appearance to the Plimsoll line on boats. In Whitehall Garden, a Victoria Embankment garden, there is a monument to Samuel Plimsoll in front of the railings. A monument bust of Plimsoll is located in his native

, on the banks of

Bristol Harbour Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out per ...

in the Canons Marsh area. British writer Nicolette Jones published ''The Plimsoll Sensation'', a highly acclaimed biography – getting the idea for it from living in 1995 in Plimsoll Road in

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

, north London, but knowing hardly anything about whom it was named after. Samuel Plimsoll appears in the third series of the BBC historical television drama ''

The Onedin Line ''The Onedin Line'' is a BBC television drama series that ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and covers the rise of a fictional shipping company, the Onedin Line, na ...

'', portrayed by actor David Garfield.

References

;Attribution

External links

"Our Seamen: An Appeal" by Samuel Plimsoll, 1873
at The Internet Archive
"The sailor's friend" (book review), ''The Economist'', Jul 6th 2006
(payment required)

* ttp://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,,1805185,00.html "The Bottom Line About Mr. Plimsoll"

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

, 25 June 2006
Review of "The Plimsoll Sensation" in Bookworm on the Net, 2 July 2006

Re: Monument in Whitehall Garden. London Parks & Gardens Trust, London Gardens Online. See under heading 'Fuller Information', paragraph 'The south-western sections..'."
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plimsoll, Samuel 1824 births 1898 deaths People from Fulwood, Sheffield Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Sheffield UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 British reformers British social reformers Burials in Kent