Sir Robert Peel

Born in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire in 1750, Peel joined his father's calico printing business in Blackburn at the age of 23. When his father died in 1795, he left a £140,000 fortune, but Peel built on that substantially. By then he had moved his operation to Tamworth in Staffordshire, where he had acquired the estate of the Marquess of Bath in 1790. This enabled him to install modern machinery without falling foul of the increasingly militant Lancashire handloom weavers. Peel became MP for Tamworth in 1790, where he was an enthusiastic supporter of Pitt, and for the next thirty years sat in the Commons, promoting the interests of industry.

Peel's heir, also Robert, was born in 1788. It was said that on hearing the news of his birth, the elder Peel fell on his knees, and returning thanks to God, vowed that he would give his child to his country. He did and the son became the pride of his life. 'Bob,' the elder Peel is said to have remarked 'if you are not prime minister some day, I'll disinherit you.' Though the elder Peel died in 1830, this dream was posthumously fulfilled - his son became prime minister in 1841.

Peel's fortune on his death was around £1.5m according to the historian Eric Hobsbawm in his book 'Industry and Empire'. That would represent around 0.44% of the £336m net national income of the day, or £4.8bn in today's terms.