Town’s benefactor was ‘a giant of his generation’

Portrait finally restored to honour viscount

One of Maidstone’s most famous benefactors has now been properly honoured with a magnificent portrait of him fully restored and hung in his old dining room.

The First Lord Bearsted, Viscount Marcus Samuel, was an astute businessman, who turned his father’s small East End business importing decorated seashells into a global empire.

Marcus Samuel was the first to realise the potential for the mass transport of oil-using tankers and founded the Shell Transport and Trading Company in 1897. His ships made use of newly opened Suez Canal and after merging with Royal Dutch Petroleum in 1907 his company became one of the biggest oil companies in the world.

Although his main business interests were centred in London, where he served as Lord Mayor, Samuel’s country estate was at Mote House in Maidstone and he was made a freeman of the town after a generous donation to create the Bearsted Gallery at Maidstone Museum in St Faith’s Street.

He was knighted in 1898, made the First Baron of Bearsted in 1921, and Viscount Bearsted in 1925.

When the museum’s Japanese collection – donated by Marcus’ son Walter – was relocated to the Bearsted Galley in 2012, it was noted there was no portrait of Lord Bearsted.

A long search eventually uncovered a painting of him in his ceremonial robes in the museum stores. It had been badly damaged by a bomb that fell in 1940.

The Maidstone Trust sought sponsors and then commissioned the restoration of the portrait

‘He was proud enough of his chosen home in Kent to take that name for his family’

and on Saturday it was unveiled by his great grandson, Nicholas Samuel, the 5th Lord Bearsted, in the restaurant at the Audley Mote House.

Dan Daley, chairman of the Maidstone Trust, said: “This man was a giant of his generation. A man of massive vision and enterprise.

“He was proud enough of his chosen home in Kent to take that name for his family and we honour him today as he in every way really does come home.”

those contributing to the £7,000 it cost to restore the painting were the Samuel Family Trust, The City of London Guild of Spectacle Makers, the Maidstone Area Arts Partnership and the Cobtree Charity Trust.