CUNARD, SIR SAMUEL, 1ST BARONET

born Nov. 21, 1787, Halifax, Nova Scotia died April 28, 1865, Kensington, London, Eng. British merchant and shipowner who founded the first regular Atlantic steamship line. The son of a merchant, Cunard himself became prosperous in commerce. From 1830 he laid plans to establish a mail service between England and North America, running steamers from Liverpool to Halifax, and thence to Boston. Cunard went to England in 1838, and the following year, in partnership with Sir George Burns of Glasgow and David MacIver of Liverpool, he established the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, generally known as the Cunard Line. He was created a baronet in 1859.