Samuel Gregson
Samuel Gregson was a nineteenth-century British merchant, politician, philanthropist. His father, or possibly the younger Gregson himself, was a slave owner.
Eldest son of Samuel Gregson, manager of the Lancaster Canal Company, he won a scholarship to Lancaster Royal Grammar School. In 1808 he joined the Honourable East India Company in London becoming a commodities trader.
After establishing a successful trading business, Gregson bought land in Lancashire and was elected Mayor of Lancaster in 1817 and again in 1825,
later being returned, in 1847, to represent the Whigs as MP for the City of Lancaster. He also served as a County Alderman and a portrait of him hangs in Lancaster Town Hall.
Gregson was a co-founder of the Natural History Museum.
