Samuel Bentham

Samuel Bentham (11 January 1757 - 31 May 1831) was a noted mechanical engineer credited with numerous innovations, particularly related to naval architecture, including weapons. He was also the brother of philosopher Jeremy Bentham.

At the age of 14, Bentham was apprenticed to a shipwright at Woolwich Dockyard, but later travelled widely across Europe (spending long periods in Russia- he served in the Russian navy 1780-1791) studying shipbuilding and naval-related engineering.

He is credited with helping to revolutionise the production of the wooden pulley blocks used in ship's rigging, devising woodworking machinery to improve production efficiency. His efforts were augmented by those of Marc Isambard Brunel and Henry Maudslay, marking the arrival of mass production techniques in British manufacturing.

His son George Bentham, born in 1800, became a noted botanist.