Samuel Budgett (27 July 1794 – 29 April 1851) was an English merchant.
Rising from humble origins, Budgett built up a wholesale grocery business called H.H. & S. Budgett, based in Kingswood Bristol, covering a large area of Southern and Western England and South Wales, which outlasted him by over a century. He was a devoted Wesleyan Methodist,”The genius of Charles Wesley was, in his infancy, a lark at noon...” SM p 337 who came close to offering himself as a missionary. Having chosen instead to work as a grocer to support his impoverished parents and siblings, he applied Christian principles to his business, setting improving standards in food purity and working conditions. He also began each day's business with a short Christian service for all staff.
With his elder brother, Samuel Budgett made a big difference to Kingswood. Having arrived in 1809 with nothing but his apprenticeship, he never left the place, even when he could afford to do so. He built a strong business, providing many jobs. He built a house and laid gardens and a farm. These provided more employment, as well as space for meetings and parties. He was a watchful but gentle employer, seeking above all to help people to increase their own self-mastery and usefulness. He led efforts to build chapels and schools where ordinary people could gain knowledge and learn the art of citizenship. He gave much of his money to these causes and to individuals in trouble.
Shortly after his death a biography – The Successful Merchant, by William Arthur – was published which went into over forty editions in the UK alone and made him well known. Robert Louis Stevenson, in his book Virginibus Puerisque, mentions Samuel Budgett in passing, apparently confident that he requires no introduction.
NOTE: Both Samuel Budgett and his biographer William Arthur were devout Methodists at a time when Methodism was very strong in the UK. Arthur's book says much about Samuel's Christian principles and actions as well as recommending that the reader should treat him as an example. It has been suggested that Arthur's account is biased.Wardley (2004) However it is an account of how Samuel (and others) thought and acted, written by the man with the best access to those who knew and it is now the only account we have. Arthur himself wrote, “... an effort has been made to insert, with a firm hand, every real scar. Some will say they are too slight; others will say they are too deep, and these they who most intimately knew the original."SM page vii In this article both the religious and secular aspects of the man are presented using Arthur as the guide.
Early life
Samuel Budgett was born in Wrington on 27 July 1794. His father's first wife had died and he had married again, Samuel being the eldest son of this second marriage, at Whatley near Frome, in 1788, to Elizabeth (Betsy) Budgett (1767–1831). His parents moved several times. In 1801 they took a shop in Kingswood, Bristol. In 1803 parents and children moved again to Coleford, Somerset where they opened a small general shop, leaving Henry Hill Budgett in charge of the Kingswood shop. Henry was a grown up son of the first marriage, about 15 years older than Samuel.SM pp 36–41
The family were poor but were devoted members of the Methodist Chapel wherever they lived. Samuel's two passions were his faith and his constant desire to get a little extra money by trading. He had to choose whether to be a missionary or a trader. His parents' poverty prevented them from affording a missionary's education. It also meant that they needed him as a breadwinner. So he decided to be a trader. Initially he was buying and selling things worth only a few pence. Gradually he was able to plough back his profits and trade larger amounts. Finally his capital reached 30 pounds. He gave this all to his mother before leaving to become an apprentice.SM pp 82, 87/8, 102, 42–52
At the age of thirteen, Samuel learned a very useful lesson from an adult salesman. This man tried and failed to make headway with his mother. Samuel realised that this was because the man ran through his whole range, never producing any special bargains. He saw that if the man had first offered one or two genuine bargains, this would have got his mother's attention and "hooked" her for other sales, This became one of his principles of business.SM pp 49/50
Apprentice In April 1809, at the age of 14, Samuel bound himself to Henry for seven years as an apprentice grocer.SM p 106 The hours were long: typically 6am to 9pm or later. Worse, in June 1812 Henry sacked his brother for “want of ability”. Although he did look undersize and understrength, Samuel managed to find work with another grocer.SM p 117-9 He was well liked and successful. Then six months later, Henry went back on his earlier decision and re-instated Samuel as apprentice, not as an offer but insisting that the indentures gave him the right to demand his return. Although he was happy in his new position and his employer offered to increase his pay, Samuel felt bound to his brother and obediently returned.SM p 123 He worked as a Sunday School teacher at the local chapel. When the apprenticeship ended in about 1816, he agreed a contract with his brother to work the next three years at 40, 50 and 60 pounds respectively. He spent only essential money on himself and managed to save 100 pounds in the three years and give money to friends and family as well.SM pp 137/8
Partnership At this point it turned out that Henry had lost money in speculation, although his main business was prospering. Samuel gave his 100 pounds to his brother to help him out. At the same time, Henry made Samuel his partner. Samuel took a small cottage near the shop and married Ann Smith from Midsomer Norton.SM p 139 Even as a hired man, he had been running a department of the shop, buying carefully, selling at keen prices, presenting his low prices well and making his customers feel welcome. People were coming to the shop from neighbouring villages. Now to increase sales further he himself went out to these villages to save them the trouble of travelling.
The next few years are covered in more detail in H.H. & S. Budgett. Briefly, against his brother's misgivings, he started to sell common items to outlying shops where the price difference made it worthwhile. Having mastered that, the trade was grown carefully and slowly, adding new commodities for old customers, visiting larger shops in larger towns, travelling further away, carefully recruiting travellers and revisiting, in a relaxed manner, the fancy shops which had previously refused him. In time the business reached as far as Birmingham and Penzance.
As they advanced, Samuel bought the grounds of an old quarry in Kingswood. Here he built a substantial house where he lived to the end of his life. Later he had this filled in and made into gardens and farmland, forty to fifty acres. This was partly to provide local employment. Long afterwards an old man said, "Yes; I remember when there were five men and three horses, and I have lived to see three hundred men and one hundred horses".SM p 173, 187, 222 During a food shortage in 1846 and 1847 he employed many extra people just to keep them from starving.SM p 281
Samuel Budgett's Principles of Business From the start Samuel had very clear principles about how to run a business and carefully designed rules for employees. Although the detailed rules changed, the outline was fixed and deviations from the current rules were taken very seriously.SM p 198/9
He always tried to adhere to Christian principles. He felt it was not worth getting a bit more if you lost your soul as a result. More to the point, you shouldn't tempt others into losing their souls. Samuel well knew the difference between a Christian and a pseudo-Christian. A Wesleyan lay-preacher once used his religious position to get an interview. He tried to sell Samuel a scheme to make mock vinegar, to be sold as real. He was roundly rebuked, especially because of his position of trust, and sent packing.SM pp 178–82, 251, 265 They began every day with an Act of Worship, about 30 minutes, in a room set aside as a chapel. If a family member was present he would lead but there was a rota of others who often led.SM p 15, 247 Punctuality. Samuel received a list of latecomers each day. Anyone who stayed off the list for a year received a sovereign. Each man received a penny on first arriving at 6 am, again after breakfast, and again after dinner. If he was late he forfeited the penny. This provided a gentle encouragement and it replaced a tradition of providing free beer. Samuel did not mind if men chose to drink moderately but he knew the risks and, as a Methodist, felt it wrong to be an agent of them. The precise rules were changed over the years.SM pp 209/211 He would neither borrow nor lend. If the customer was buying in the shop, he must pay immediately. If he was distant, the traveller would see him every four weeks precisely and the account must then be fully settled. Samuel felt this was best for the customer as well as himself, because once you start to borrow, it is not clear where you should stop. He also saw, in practice, bad debt ripple through chains of businesses, ruining the families concerned and even damaging the country. He felt he was setting an example by demonstrating what could be done without borrowing.SM pp 161, 162, 171 Writing in 2010, this sounds all too familiar! Tact, Push, Principle. Samuel worked that way himself and only recruited those who showed these three qualities. Principle applied to both masters and men. It meant honest dealing with customers as well as masters. A master must not force his man to a target that could not be honestly reached, with the message, "I don't want to know how you get it done, just do it".Arthur Miller wrote a play called All My Sons in which the master does that. If the master does not want to know how the target is met, he is more guilty than the minion who actually breaks the rules. Principle can be hard to discover but Samuel could find it. He once visited a grocer, noticed one man in particular and quickly said to his host, "I would not keep him for a day". The host thought the man was his best employee but he watched him, and in time caught him stealing and dismissed him. The man continued to go downhill. Working for another master, he stole by the wagon-load.SM p 199-203 He believed you must only supply ingredients as described. Pepper was highly taxed. There was an established practice in the trade of adulterating ground pepper with "Pepper Dust" (P.D.). It was a standard product which grocers bought. The practice was harmless but dishonest. Early on Samuel had accepted this practice as standard but he thought about it more and more. Finally, having made the decision, he went back one night and threw away his stock of P.D.SM p 174 He made sure to know all his employees, however humble. He befriended them almost as much as his own family. He tried to understand them and their families and their worries. He gave them all a free party at least once a year.SM pp236-49, 262 Every young man who "lived in" had his own space, where he could sleep and pray in private.SM p 258 Samuel consulted his whole family, including his wife, sister and children, if he had a difficult problem to resolve. If uncertainty remained then he would express his confidence that the Lord would deal with it.SM pp 312/3 This helped the children to grow up morally as well as physically and enabled them, when the time came, to take command with confidence. "Precision, order, energy and exactness are principles engraved on every department of the vast business here conducted." A "Wesleyan Minister" wrote this to the ‘’Christian Miscellany'’ for 1847.SM p 248-250