Samson Fox (11th July 1838 to 24th October 1903)

You must have heard of the Fox family of actors - James, Edward (the jackal in The Day Of The Jackal), Emilia, Lawrence, etc. They sprang from the loins of Samsung Fox who became a self-made multi-millionaire industrialist when a million pounds truly was a fortune. In an episode of Who Do you Think You Are? actress Emilia Fox travelled to the Leeds and Harrogate to investigate the source of his immense success and following wealth. I went to see his main invention, thefield where he's buried and his magnificent home.

Like millions of other lads he started work in a work in a textile mill at the age of eight. Unlike millions of other lads he was running his own tool-making company by his late twenties. In 1874 aged 36 he set up the Leeds Forge Company to make iron for train and marine engines. This led to a life-changing innovation - the corrugated boiler flue (in which coal was burned to heat the boiler.) The Royal Navy and major shipping lines bought expensive flues but they cracked under pressure. Samsung’s factory started making corrugated versions. This simplest ideas are the best and making them with grooves ensured they wouldn’t split. Oh boy - this simple change make Samson fantastically rich. The industrial world was greedy for hardy flues underwritten with a guarantee (Samsung’s came with a 5-year one.) They were sold in the United States, Argentina, Belgium, India, Japan and Spain. Samson also invented the bogie - a wheel chassis for train wheels which train-builders could not buy fast enough. Aged 44 he was one of the wealthiest people in the country.

He was married twice and had four children. Away from business he was Mayor three times between 1890-92, and was a JP for both Harrogate and Leeds. Despite the riches he was an overweight bear of a man and died aged 65 from acute diabetes.

Visit 1 : Armley Mills Industrial Museum, Leeds.

I visited this place to see one of the corrugated boiler flues that made Samson so rich he became a philanthropist. I only saw one from a distance. There's an elephant's graveyard of parts made for the Industrial Resolution but the public can't reach it. I could see stuff in the mid-distance. In an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? the actress Emilia Fox is shown one of the boiler flues. There's a portrait of Samson which I saluted to.

Visit 2 : St George's Field, burial location, Leeds

I didn’t find his grave in Leeds as it no longer exists but I’m nosey and went for a look anyway. St George's Field is quiet oasis amid a university campus. It was once Leeds’s main cemetery but in 1965 the university sought permission to clear the headstones to create a public space. Strolling around you’d never know 93,000 skeletons lie under the turf. Some students don't respect the place and play football and have sex on the grass. I strolled around and wondered if I’d walked over Samson’s bones (plot 12873) along with those of his wife and two sons (who died aged 2 and 20.) Everything he did was on a grand scale so I’m sure his headstone was suitably magnificent.

Visit 3: His former home, Harrogate

I also visited Grove House where Samson moved aged 44. Harrogate was only fifteen miles from Leeds but attracted the cream of society. He was a hero in this spa town, having given it its first steam fire engine, built Grove Home School, funded the lavishly decorated Royal Hall and built a water gas plant to provide the main street with lighting. He moved into this home and made it into a 40-acre estate. There was a workshop in the basement, a stable block for his beloved horses (he built a Turkish bath for them.) The grand residence has recently been bought for £15 million and will be a old folks community facility.

Samson's great-grandson was Edward Fox who was the assassin in The Day Of The Jackal. Being a nerd I've found his home and the link is here:-

http://www.johnhalley.uk/BP%20-%20Edward%20Fox.htm