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Born January 11, 1757. Died May 31, 1831.

Sir Samuel Bentham was the youngest son of Jeremiah Bentham, and brother of Jeremy, the celebrated jurist. He was placed when very young at a private school, from whence, at the age of six, he was sent to Westminster. His father occupied a house in Queen's Square Place, in the stable-yard of which were spacious workshops, let to a carpenter; here Samuel used to spend all his leisure time, and soon acquired considerable skill in handling tools, for when only thirteen years old he had managed to construct with his own hands a carriage, for a young friend and playmate, Miss Cornelia Knight. At the age of fourteen he exhibited so strong a taste for naval matters, that his father yielded to his wishes, and bound him apprentice to the master shipwright of Woolwich Dockyard. At that time the superior officers of a royal dockyard were exempted from keeping their apprentices at hard labour, so that time might be allowed for general instruction. Samuel, however, soon perceived that practical manipulation was no less essential than theoretical knowledge, and used therefore to work at the dock side till breakfast-time, and devote the rest of the day to scientific acquirements. In time, Samuel and his master were removed from Woolwich to Chatham Dockyard, by which he was enabled to obtain a practical knowledge of the behaviour of vessels at sea; for he was often permitted to sail in the British Channel, and sometimes extended his voyages further. About this period his brother, Jeremy Bentham, had returned from college, and used to instil into him many of the first ideas of political economy: on these occasions Samuel would take advantage of the Saturday afternoons to walk from Chatham to his brother's chambers in Lincoln's Inn.

At the end of his seven years' apprenticeship, Samuel spent another year in the other royal dockyards, and at the Naval College at Portsmouth. He then went to sea as Captain Macbridge's guest, whose ship was one of Lord Keppel's fleet, and on this occasion he suggested sundry improvements in the apparatus of a ship, which were executed in Portsmouth Dockyard. In consequence of the abilities manifested by Bentham, many advantageous appointments were offered him; these were, however, refused, and in 1780 he embarked for the Continent, in order to obtain greater experience in the different practices in the art of naval construction. After having visited Holland he proceeded to Russia, and was well received at St. Petersburgh by the English Ambassador, Sir James Harris, who introduced him to the best society, and through whose means he became acquainted, among others, with Prince Potemkin, and the celebrated traveller, Pallas. Whilst on a visit to the large manufactory of Count Demidoff, Bentham constructed a sort of amphibious vehicle, in the form of a boat, and capable of serving as an ordinary wheel-carriage, and also, when necessity required, of being navigated across, or along a stream of water. This invention he subsequently patented, and likewise extended its utility by constructing the carriages so as to serve as army baggage-waggons, a supply of which Prince Potemkin ordered to be furnished to a regiment at Jassy. They were also introduced into England about the year 1793, when the Duke of York requested that one should be built for the English service, which was successfully tried on the River Thames. In gratitude to Count Demidoff for the facilities which he had afforded him in constructing this carriage, Bentham invented for the use of the Count's factory, a wood-planing machine, which could also be used for making mouldings by changing the cutting tool.

Bentham's stay in Russia was prolonged for a greater period than he originally intended, from his having become attached to a Russian lady of considerable rank and beauty; but although this attachment was mutual, nothing came of it, owing to the opposition of the lady's relatives, on the score of Bentham being a foreigner. During this period Bentham had the direction of the Fontanka Canal, in connection with which he invented a peculiar form of pile-driving machine, in which the weight was attached to a sort of endless ladder, moved by a man stepping on it, on the principle that a man's weight exceeds considerably his muscular strength.

After the completion of the canal, Prince Potemkin induced Bentham to accept military service, and appointed him to the command of a battalion stationed at Critcheff, in White Russia, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. As the prince's manufactories were in the neighbourhood of Critcheff, Bentham offered to superintend them. This offer was gladly received; and as the management of the works had been previously grossly misconducted, the lieutenant-colonel soon perceived the necessity of his own constant inspection of what was going on, and for this purpose contrived a panoptican building or inspection-house, the centre of which commanded a view of all its parts. His brother Jeremy was on a visit whilst he was devising this panoptican, and the contrivance has frequently on this account been attributed to Jeremy, although in his works Jeremy repeatedly says it was his brother's. Up to this time the panoptican principle has only been adopted in gaols; but Jeremy Bentham has shown that it is equally desirable for a great variety of buildings.

Bentham's next invention was a sort of jointed vessel, for the conveyance of the Empress Catherine down the Dnieper and its affluents, which were shallow, tortuous, and their navigation much impeded by sandbanks and sunken trees. This vessel was in six links, drawing only six inches of water when loaded, and with 124 men at the oars on board. Many more were constructed on the same principle, for carrying the produce of the prince's establishments and manufactories to the Black Sea.

On the breaking out of war with Turkey, Bentham was sent to the south with his battalion, of which, according to orders, he had made sailors and shipwrights; and shortly afterwards, by the joint order of Souvaroff and Admiral Mardvinoff, he was commanded to fit out vessels at Cherson to oppose the enemy. It happened that he had the sole command of the arsenal at Cherson, in which he found an immense stock of ordnance of all descriptions, but no better navigable vessels than the pleasure-galleys which had brought the empress and her suite down the Dnieper. But nothing daunted, Bentham set to work. He reflected that it is not size of vessel which ensures victory, but that it is gained by the fleet that can throw the heaviest weight of missile in the shortest time, joined to the facility of manœuvring vessels. Strengthening his vessels as well as he could, he fitted them with as heavy artillery as they could possibly bear, and when all was finished, took the command of the flotilla himself, and had the satisfaction of engaging the Turks on three separate days, in all of which actions he was equally victorious, notwithstanding the enemy's flotilla were doubly as numerous and powerful. For these three victories Bentham received from the empress a like number of honourable rewards—rank in the army, a gold-hilted sword, and the Cross of the Order of St. George.

Sir Samuel Bentham now returned to the army, and by his own choice was appointed to the protection of the eastern frontier of Siberia, his command extending from the northern part of the Ural Mountains to the confines of Russia in the Chinese dominions. After holding this appointment for a couple of years, during which period he established schools for his troops, and introduced other improvements into their condition, Bentham obtained leave of absence to visit England.

Here commences another epoch in Sir Samuel's life. Arrived in England, he found his brother Jeremy absorbed in investigations relative to jurisprudence. Jeremy, however, had not forgotten his brother's Panoptican, but had proposed its adoption for the County Gaol of Middlesex. This led to some explanations with the ministers, who ultimately entrusted Jeremy Bentham with a thousand convicts, of whose labour he was to make the best use he could. In the meanwhile Samuel went to visit the principal manufactories in England; he found that steam-engines were used for giving motion to machinery for spinning cotton, but in no case were they applied to machinery for the working of wood, metal, &c.; nor, in fact, were there any mechanical apparatuses for saving labour, with the exception of turning-lathes, and some boring tools worked by horses, for making ships' blocks. Bentham therefore patented, in 1791, his machinery for planing and making mouldings, specifying the improvements which he had made on the machine constructed ten years before for Count Demidoff. His brother's arrangements for the industrial employment of convicts having been concluded, Sir Samuel considered that the most profitable means of employing them would be the working of machines for saving manual labour, which at the same time ensured accuracy of work; he therefore exerted his mechanical genius to perfect several engines he had previously contrived in Russia, and patented his inventions in the specification (No. 1951). This specification includes machines for sawing, boring, and many other operations necessary for the working of wood or metal.

Nor did the general confine himself to mere verbal descriptions of his machines; many of them were constructed and erected under his own eye, in Queen's Square Place, amongst which may be mentioned an apparatus for making wheels, and another for making all the parts of a window-sash frame; both of these leaving nothing for the skilled workman to do, save putting the pieces together. There were also planes of various descriptions, saws for cutting extremely fine veneers, machines for boring, dovetailing, cutting stone, &c., &c. Machines for metal-work were not, however, attempted, on account of the difficulty of obtaining the necessary power for working them, the Queen's Square Place apparatus being all worked by men. The fame of this machinery attracted many visitors, amongst others Mr. Secretary Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville), who stated in the House of Commons that it opened a new era in the manufacturing prosperity of the country.

But the circumstance which completely changed Bentham's future destiny, was the frequent visits of Earl Spencer and the Lords of the Admiralty, who soon perceived the advantages which would accrue to the state by engaging the general in the British service. Various proposals were made by the Admiralty to engage him permanently in the public service; but Bentham refused all in which he had not the individual responsibility. Ultimately a new office was created for him, under the name of Inspector-General of Naval Works; not, however, without the fierce opposition of the Naval Board, who, although unable to change the title of the office, managed to reduce the salary from the sum of 2000l. per annum, as originally proposed, to 750l. nominal, with an addition finally agreed upon of 500l. a year—in all, 1250l. per annum. Notwithstanding this opposition, Bentham, convinced of the services he could render, gave up the honours and riches which awaited him in Russia—amongst others, an estate promised him on his return—and determined to devote his energies to his native country, regardless of all pecuniary advantages. During the interval which elapsed before the actual institution of his new office, Bentham was authorized by the Lords of the Admiralty, early in 1795, to build seven experimental vessels; into these he introduced many improvements, amongst which may be mentioned diagonal braces, metallic tanks for water, metallic canisters for powder, means for filling the magazine with water in case of fire, safety lamps, &c.

Appointed Inspector-General of Naval Works in 1796, the whole of Sir Samuel's energies were henceforward directed towards the improvement of naval arsenals, and the introduction of his machinery for shaping wood, with steam-power to give it motion. This introduction of steam-power into the naval dockyards of Great Britain experienced at first the most violent opposition; and it was not until 1797 that any progress was made towards the furtherance of his object. During the same year Sir M. Isambard (then Mr.) Brunel presented himself to the general, for the purpose of bringing before his notice certain machinery for making blocks. Bentham was at that time fully engaged by Lord St. Vincent in organizing a better mode of managing timber in the royal dockyards, and it occurred to him that Brunei would be likely to influence the public in favour of machinery for working wood, and therefore proposed that he should be engaged for that purpose, recommending at the same time the adoption of his apparatus for shaping blocks, to which Brunel's machines were solely confined[2]—a measure which has had the effect of giving almost the entire merit of the Portsmouth machinery to Brunel. This statement is made without any intention of detracting from Sir Isambard's well-earned reputation, but simply in justice to Bentham, who, singularly free from an inventor's jealousy, himself officially stated:—"In regard to the machinery, I was afterwards satisfied that Mr. Brunel had skill enough to have contrived machinery to have answered the same purposes, had he not found mine ready to his hand."

To describe all Bentham's subsequent improvements, not only in machinery, but also in the economy of the management of the dockyards, would take too much space. By his energetic efforts and inventive genius, the wood mills, metal mills, and millwrights' shop were established at Portsmouth. In 1800, he proposed to the Admiralty a steam dredging-machine, of which he gave drawings, similar to the ones now in such general use; and the efficacy of this invention has since realized the most sanguine hopes of its designer. Notwithstanding the great value of Bentham's services, he seems to have experienced little gratitude on the part of the government. During the year 1805, he was requested by the Admiralty to proceed to Russia, and commence building in that country ships of war for the British navy. On his consenting, and arriving at St. Petersburgh, he found, much to his surprise, that nothing had been done to facilitate his mission; and although personally received with great kindness by the emperor, he was unable to obtain the required permission to build vessels of war for Great Britain.

Returning to England in 1807, he learnt that his office had been abolished, and that henceforth he would be amalgamated with the Naval Board. Nothing but the necessity of supporting his family, made Bentham accept this new post, which gave him the title of Civil Engineer and Architect of the Navy—an employment for which he had manifested peculiar talents, although not educated for it, but excluding him at the same time from all interference in ship-building, for which he had served a regular apprenticeship, and had subsequently manifested extraordinary talents. When this office also was abolished, about the year 1812, Sir Samuel, by the desire of Lord Melville, applied for some compensation for loss of office, and likewise for a remuneration for his services. On account of the loss of office, Bentham's salary was continued; but during the discussion which arose regarding the statement of services which Sir Samuel had drawn up at the request of the Admiralty, although, on coming to the metal mills, Lord Melville said, "There Sir Samuel stands upon a rock," it proved a slippery one; for under the pretext that it would be necessary to apply to parliament for so large a sum as a year's savings effected by the introduction of the metal mills, no remuneration was ever accorded to Bentham for any one of his services.

After the restoration of peace in 1814, Sir Samuel retired to France, for the economical education of his children. In 1827 he returned to England, where he remained until his death in 1831, at the age of seventy-four.—Papers and Practical Illustrations of Public Works of Recent Construction, &c. London, 1856.