Robert Perks

Sir Robert William Perks, 1st Baronet (24 April 1849 – 30 November 1934) was a British Liberal politician, lawyer, financier, and company director.

A key mentor behind his decision to embark on his path into the legal profession was Sir Francis Lycett, a friend and neighbour of George Thomas Perks, and one of the highest profile Wesleyan laymen of this period.

In July 1875 George was described as being "the principal mover" in the scheme to equip Llandudno with a "Grand Promenade Pier", assisted by R.W.

[15][16] His success with this project led to Perks being commissioned for his first ventures into the organizing of financial arrangements for the building of new railways.

[18] In 1881 he was the Wesleyan Representative on the Editorial Committee of the Proceedings of the first Oecumenical Methodist Conference, held at the City Road Chapel, London.

He was one of the twenty initial subscribers to Sir Edward Watkin`s "The Submarine Continental Railway Company Limited" (registered 12 December 1881), as was his father-in-law William Mewburn.

Perks was appointed the solicitor of this company, and managed the attempts to obtain British Parliamentary approval for the Channel Tunnel project during the 1880s.

[1] In 1894, he organized a syndicate of investors to provide sufficient finance to the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway, to enable that company to continue with the construction of its line.

The fund had raised £1,073,682 by the time it closed in 1909, part of which was used to purchase the former Royal Aquarium site for the construction of the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster.

Perks chaired the company until 9 February 1905 when he stood aside in favour of Charles Tyson Yerkes,and became deputy chairman.

He had four daughters (the eldest of whom, Gertrude, pre-deceased him), and one son, Robert Malcolm Mewburn Perks,[1] who succeeded him in the baronetcy.