Sampson Gideon

Sampson Gideon made a considerable fortune by speculation, and by the mid- 18th century, he was the principal agent for raising English government loans.

Gideon was born in to a family of Rowland Gideon (d. 1720), a West India merchant who was originally from Portugal but had settled
in London in the seventeenth century. Sampson started his business career at the age of 20, as speculator in government bonds and various company shares, including the South Sea Company. His starting capital was £1,500, which in less than two years had increased to £7,900. When he became a broker in 1729, at the age of 30, his capital stood at £25,000.

In the 1740's and 1750's, Sampson was vital to successive English governments in raising and lending money for war needs. During the Jacobite rebellion in 1745 he helped to preserve the financial stability of the country, and again during the Seven Years’ War (1755–63), he advised the English government in financial matters. In 1758 he was thanked by the king for his services.

By 1750 Gideon became a substantial landowner and has obtained a coat of arms for himself. He built a mansion at Belvedere, near Erith, and had possessed large estates at Salden in Buckinghamshire, at Spalding and Caistor in Lincolnshire, and at Borough Fen, near Peterborough. Although he petitioned unsuccessfully for a baronetcy, in 1759 he obtained the title of baronet for his son, also Samson Gideon (1745–1824), who became Lord Eardley in 1789. Samson Gideon (elder) was refused on his request for he was a Jew, but his children were raised as Catholics.

At the time of his death Sampson Gideon had a fortune of around £600,000, the equivalent of over £4.6bn in 2010.