A merchant, a governor of the Russia Company from 1728 to 1740, MP for Looe in Cornwall, and a director, deputy-governor and, in 1728, governor, of the Bank of England. In Russia, he met his future business partner, Matthew Shiffner, whose wife Agnata had been a governess to the niece of Peter the Great, and who had extensive contacts in the Baltic trade. This connection might explain why Samuel was later chosen by Peter the Great to act as a London agent for Peter's shipbuilding ambitions, by arranging for Russian apprentices to learn English shipbuilding techniques in the dockyards of London, and to act as an agent for the procurement of cloth for Russia's army uniforms. He secured lucrative monopolies on the import and export of certain goods. After returning to London, he became a partner in a counting house in Winchester Street, together with Matthew Shiffner. He was acting as an attorney on behalf of Richard Cozens (an English Shipwright to Peter the Great, then resident in St. Petersburg). Holden and his family lived in a magnificent Palladian mansion, Roehampton House. Samuel often contributed towards the furtherance of reform groups, particularly through his many donations for Bibles, religious education and charititable activity in the American colonies. In fact, after his death, his widow Jane fulfilled a wish specified in his Will, and made a further bequest in excess of £5000 sterling which helped fund the building of the Holden Chapel, which still stands today on the Harvard University campus.
A merchant, a governor of the Russia Company from 1728 to 1740, MP for Looe in Cornwall, and a director, deputy-governor and, in 1728, governor, of the Bank of England. In Russia, he met his future business partner, Matthew Shiffner, whose wife Agnata had been a governess to the niece of Peter the Great, and who had extensive contacts in the Baltic trade. This connection might explain why Samuel was later chosen by Peter the Great to act as a London agent for Peter's shipbuilding ambitions, by arranging for Russian apprentices to learn English shipbuilding techniques in the dockyards of London, and to act as an agent for the procurement of cloth for Russia's army uniforms. He secured lucrative monopolies on the import and export of certain goods. After returning to London, he became a partner in a counting house in Winchester Street, together with Matthew Shiffner. He was acting as an attorney on behalf of Richard Cozens (an English Shipwright to Peter the Great, then resident in St. Petersburg). Holden and his family lived in a magnificent Palladian mansion, Roehampton House. Samuel often contributed towards the furtherance of reform groups, particularly through his many donations for Bibles, religious education and charititable activity in the American colonies. In fact, after his death, his widow Jane fulfilled a wish specified in his Will, and made a further bequest in excess of £5000 sterling which helped fund the building of the Holden Chapel, which still stands today on the Harvard University campus.
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