Samuel Shepheard

Member of Parliament for Newport and the city of London, Samuel Shepheard was a leading London merchant in the late 17th and early 18th century. He built a reputation of a successful merchant first in the wine trade, and later in trade with the East India.

In the mid-1690s, Shepheard criticized the monopoly held by the old East India Company and along with the Gilbert Heathcote represented the interests of Leeward Islands and East India traders in petitioning the House of Lords to introduce competition. He had an important role in establishing the New East India Company and became its director. Since his business grew, in 1697 he became a government creditor.

In 1708, he was elected one of the first directors of the United East India Company. He also had a major role in the formation of the South Sea Company in which he invested heavily, and was appointed its deputy governor in 1713 and sub-governor in 1719.

He died that year before the South Sea Bubble burst, leaving an enormous estate worth £800,000 to his wife and sons. That would be worth over £11.5bn in 2010's money.