Samuel Manship

Samuel Manship was an English stationer and bookseller in the City of London who acted as publisher for several noted writers and became a landowner in Surrey.

Life Born about 1665, he was the second son of the Reverend John Manship (1612–1689) from Locking, Somerset and his wife Barbara. His father had been rector of the Anglican church of St Nicolas, Guildford but in 1662 was ejected and instead became a physician and Presbyterian preacher in Guildford. His elder brother John Manship (1659–1705) became an Oxford don and physician.

Samuel went into business in the City of London, being admitted a Citizen and Member of the Stationers Company. From premises in Cornhill, first at the sign of The Black Bull and later at The Ship, he sold books and stationery. His shop also served as a distribution point for many art sale catalogues

His main fame is as a publisher who acted for a large number of contemporary writers, both English and French, on a variety of subjects, particularly philosophy and theology. Among his authors were : Antoine Arnauld Mary Astell William Beveridge Antoinette Bourignon de la Porte François de Chavigny de la Bretonnière Edmund Chishull Henry Dodwell Sir George Etherege Sir Roger L'Estrange John Locke Nicolas Malebranche Luke Milbourne Pierre Nicole John Norris Christopher Packe John Pennyman, the husband of Mary Pennyman John Rawlet John Scott Susanna Wesley and William Winstanley.

In 1709 he acquired the manor and mansion of Field Place at Compton outside Guildford (the house sold for 6 million pounds in 2006). As an elector in the Cornhill Ward, local activists of the Whig party wanted his vote and in a meeting on 16 December 1714 resolved to approach him through the Lord Chancellor, William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper. He was buried on 24 January 1720 in the new vault of the church of St Michael, Cornhill and his will was proved on 1 February 1720

Family On 16 July 1692 he married Anne Lane and they had seven children. His eldest son John Manship (1695–1749), who went into business as a cloth merchant, in 1723 married Elizabeth Garbrand (1706–1788), a descendant of the bookseller Gerbrand Harkes, and inherited the estate at Compton on the death of his mother in 1734. The eldest surviving daughter Elizabeth Manship (1701–1733) married Richard Dowdeswell (1692–1730), a cousin of the landowner and politician William Dowdeswell.