Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, 1st Baronet, (9 May 1801 – 12 April 1866)[1] was an English landowner, developer and Member of Parliament who founded the town of Fleetwood, in Lancashire, England.

His new town flourished, but the expense of building it left him close to bankruptcy and forced him to sell most of his estates including Rossall Hall, which had been his family home.

[3] He was descended (through his father's paternal grandmother) from the Fleetwood family who had owned the large Rossall estate in West Lancashire for over 200 years.

Robert inherited the estate in 1819 on the death of his elder brother, Bold, and the family relocated to the manor house, Rossall Hall, on the Fylde coast.

Although Charles was a studious young man, who planned to enter the church on graduation, Peter had an active social life in both Oxford and London.

He holidayed in southern resorts including St Leonards-on-Sea, a new development in Sussex, where he admired the work of architect James Burton.

[8] Charles was ordained in 1828 and as patron of St Chad's Church in Poulton-le-Fylde, Peter presented his brother with that curacy.

[12] He became an enthusiastic member of the Lancashire Agricultural Society and was concerned about the fate of local farm workers who were losing their jobs because of increased mechanisation.

[28] Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, and in June the following year Hesketh-Fleetwood was knighted in the Coronation honours list and created Baronet Fleetwood.

[2] In 1840 he translated Victor Hugo's pamphlet, The Last Day of a Condemned Man, with a foreword entitled "Observations on capital punishment" that made clear Hesketh-Fleetwood's abolitionist stance on the issue.

[6] He was concerned that the working classes of Lancashire could not afford to travel south for their holidays as wealthy people like him could.

[15] The number of railways in Great Britain steadily increased in the first half of the 19th century, and Hesketh was impressed by the arrival in 1828 of the steam locomotive in Lancashire.

[31] The event filled him with great excitement at the idea of bringing the railway to the coast and enabling Lancashire mill workers to take day-trips to the seaside.

He initially planned to site his town and railway terminus near the village of Thornton, but it was not close enough to the coast for his liking.

[34] Hesketh was influenced in the early planning stages by his friends, including mill owners Samuel Fielden and Benjamin Whitworth.

They pointed out that mill workers would not wish to make day trips to the seaside all year round, and wondered how the people of the new town would be occupied during the winter months.

[38] In the early 19th century it was thought that steam locomotives would be unable to negotiate hilly terrain, and that Lake District hills like Shap Fell would prevent the railway from reaching Scotland.

The Fylde terminus would have even more importance than Hesketh had hoped, providing a sea link for passengers from London to travel on to Scotland.

Southport, a town he owned much of, was becoming a popular sea bathing resort, and Hesketh-Fleetwood organised the construction of a promenade.

[43] Frederick Kemp was collecting rents and rates from tenants, and Hesketh-Fleetwood repeatedly asked him for money to pay some of the mounting bills.

[44] During Hesketh-Fleetwood's many absences from the Fylde, Kemp managed to involve himself in a number of enterprises in the town, to his own financial advantage.

[45] The railway was taking longer than expected and, with mounting debts, Hesketh-Fleetwood grew increasingly depressed and began to withdraw from society.

Close to bankruptcy, Hesketh-Fleetwood leased the buildings at Rossall Hall to the school for six years, with the option to buy it after nine for £7,000.

[57] More powerful locomotives were now able to travel over hilly terrain, and the railway was extended over Shap Fell all the way to Scotland; Fleetwood was no longer needed as a sea link.