Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda

Joseph and his brother Jacob set themselves up as marine and general engineers and shipbuilders on the Isle of Dogs.

In 1843 they entered the ship-building business, and from that time onward, notwithstanding the death of Jacob in an accident on the Thames, the firm was continuously engaged in constructing iron steamships for the Royal Navy, merchant marine, and passenger and mail services, besides royal yachts and river-boats.

In 1841 Joseph published A Treatise on the Adaptation of Atmospheric Pressure to the Purposes of Locomotion on Railways [1] As a result, he was invited by the directors of the London and Croydon Railway to supply equipment to operate their trains on this principle between London Bridge and Epsom.

[2] The first stage of this project (between Croydon and Forest Hill) opened in January 1846, but the system of propulsion encountered many problems.

He was one of the original officers of the 2nd Tower Hamlets Rifle Volunteer Corps raised in the East End of London in April 1861, when he was commissioned as a captain.