As can be seen from the plaque under the bust Sir Samuel Moreton Peto was a Contractor, Politician and Philanthropist. Though this rang a bell I didn’t know why so I looked him up.

He started as an apprentice bricklayer and worked up to become one of the founder members of the Chartered Institute of Building.  One of his major projects was Norwich Station, hence the bust, but he also the Houses of Parliament and the brick sewers of London.

He was a member of parliament for 20 years.

He built a major Baptist church in London and did work on Regents College , Oxford where there is a portrait of him.  Regents is a Baptist college. For a few years he was the treasurer of the Baptist Missionary Society (now BMS World Mission) but I don’t know any more about him faith or philanthropy other than what I have read on Wikipedia.

Visited 7th July 2025