Samuel Morton Peto Sir Samuel Morton Peto , 1st Baronet ( August 4 , 1809 – November 13 , 1889 ) was a Victorian entrepreneur in East Anglia , England . He was born in Woking , Surrey , and was apprenticed to his uncle who ran a building firm in London . When the uncle died in 1830 , Peto and his cousin Thomas Grissell went into partnership . The firm of Peto & Grissell built many well-known London buildings , including the Reform Club , the Oxford & Cambridge Club , the Lyceum and St James 's Theatre , as well as Nelson 's column and the London brick sewer . In 1846 , the partnership broke up , and Peto entered into partnership with Edward Betts . Bet ween 1846 and 1855 , the firm carried out many large railway contracts both home and abroad , among them the South-Eastern Line , The London , Chatham & Dover lines , the London , Tilbury & Southend line , and the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada . In 1854 Peto and Thomas Brassey constructed a railway in the Crimea between Balaklava and Sevastopol . He was made a Baronet for his services . Peto became a Liberal Member of Parliament for Norwich in 1847 to 1854 , for Finsbury from 1859 to 1865 , and for Bristol in 1875 , However , he became involved in the financial crisis of 1866 , was declared bankrupt and in 1868 he had to give up his seat in Parliament , despite having the support of both Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone . Peto had bought Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk in 1843 . He re-built the Hall and constructed a school and more houses in the village , before turning his attention to Lowestoft . He built a railway to connect the town to the rest of the rail network , as well as a harbour for 1 , 000 ships and some luxury hotels for the burgeoning holiday trade . Categories : 1809 births | 1889 deaths | Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | Liberal MPs ( UK ) | Natives of Surrey | People of the Crimean War In other languages : Deutsch 