Samuel Plimsoll (1824-1898), 19th century (oil painting)

Creator: Reginald Henry Campbell (1874-1962) A posthumous three-quarter length portrait. Samuel Plimsoll is shown seated to left in a black coat and buff trousers. His right hand rests on a paper on which is drawn a Plimsoll Mark and on the wall behind is a picture of a sinking merchant ship. The portrait is known to be posthumous, and was either made from another portrait or more likely from a photograph. As a radical Member of Parliament Plimsoll's fierce lobbying was largely responsible for the passing of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 which did so much for the safety and welfare of merchant seamen.