Samuel Whitbread

Samuel Whitbread was born on 20 August 1720 at Cardington in Bedfordshire, the seventh of eight children of Henry Whitbread. At 12, he received two years' education with a local clergyman, before being sent at age 14 to London to live with family (most likely, his uncle). At age 16, his family paid £300 for him to be taken as an apprentice at a brewery under John Wightman (Master of the Brewers' Company from 1734 to 1735).

Whitbread married firstly Harriet Hayton, by whom he had two daughters, one of whom, Emma Maria Elizabeth Whitbread, married Henry St John, 13th Baron St John of Bletso, and one son, the politician, Samuel Whitbread. The other daughter, Harriet, married James Gordon MP. Harriet died in 1769 and is buried in Cardington Parish Church. Her memorial is by Richard Hayward.

He married secondly Lady Mary Cornwallis (1736–70) on 13 August 1769, eldest daughter of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Earl Cornwallis, with whom he had one daughter, Mary Whitbread (1770–1858). Mary married Sir George Grey, 1st Baronet, 3rd son of Charles Grey, Lord Howick.

Whitbread became wealthy from the success of his brewery and bought several large estates: these included Lord Torrington's Southill Park, Elstow Manor, and other substantial property in Bedfordshire and High House, Purfleet, Essex. His real estate purchases were worth in the region of £400,000—equal to over £8 million in 1992.

Whitbread died on 11 June 1796 at Bedwell Park. The Gentleman's Magazine speculated that he was "worth over a million pounds" (equivalent to £97,770,000 in 2025).