13 Facts About Samuel Plimsoll

Samuel Plimsoll was a British politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line.

Samuel Plimsoll was born in Bristol and soon moved to Whiteley Wood Hall, Sheffield, spending part of his childhood in Penrith, Cumberland.

Samuel Plimsoll himself told how for a time he lived in a common lodging for seven shillings and two pence a week.

Samuel Plimsoll's efforts were directed especially against what were known as "coffin ships": unseaworthy and overloaded vessels, often heavily insured, in which unscrupulous owners risked the lives of their crews.

In 1867, Plimsoll was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Derby, and endeavoured in vain to pass a bill dealing with the subject of a safe load line on ships.

Samuel Plimsoll continued to campaign for the safe loading of ships despite continued industrial opposition.

Samuel Plimsoll lost his self-control, applied the term "villains" to members of the House, and shook his fist in the Speaker's face.

Samuel 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.

Samuel Plimsoll 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.

Samuel Plimsoll was for some years the honorary president of the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union, and drew attention to the horrors of the cattle-ships, where animals were transported under appalling and over-crowded conditions.

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

Samuel Plimsoll married his first wife, Eliza Ann, daughter of Hugh Railton of Chapeltown, north of Sheffield, in 1858.

Samuel Plimsoll appears in the third series of the BBC historical television drama The Onedin Line, portrayed by actor David Garfield.