Samuel Courtauld (industrialist)

The Courtauld family were descendants of Huguenot refugees who had settled in London and developed, over several generations, a highly regarded business as metalsmiths, working in both silver and gold.

Samuel Courtauld adopted Louisa Ruth Lowe (née Harris) after her mother died of puerperal fever some eleven days after her birth.

George Courtauld and his cousin Peter Taylor (1790–1850) developed the business over two decades, but faced difficulties in the lean years following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, when competition from the Continent was restored.

After a couple of years getting to grips with the business and bringing it back to profitability, the new manager felt sufficiently confident to embark on a major programme of expansion and innovation.

In 1854, Courtauld, now a man of some considerable fortune and standing in society, bought Gosfield Hall, a country house dating back to 1545, in the village of the same name, not far from Halstead.

Courtauld devoted a great deal of time, effort and money to bring the house, and its large estate, to a standard suitable as the country seat of gentleman of means.

The great riches generated by the success of the core textile business enabled later members of the family to pursue interests as patrons of the arts and philanthropists as well as in commerce.