Constituency : Tavistock 1865-8, Tower Hamlets 1868-80
Joseph replaced Sir John Salusbury-Trelawny at Tavistock.
Joseph was a London Jew. With his brother Jacob he set up Samuda Brothers, a firm of marine engineers and shipbuilders on the Isle of Dogs. Joseph personally superintended many of the ships built. In 1860 he founded the Institute of Naval Architects. He was also involved in railway engineering and was invited to trial his new method of atmospheric propulsion on the London Brighton and South Coast Railway but problems became apparent and it was abandoned in 1847. In 1856 he and his wife abandoned Judaism. He was a member of the Metropolitan Board of Works from 1860 to 1865.
Joseph's speeches in the House were mainly on his profession and were noted for his technical knowledge.
When Tavistock was reduced to a single member in 1868 Joseph switched to Tower Hamlets. He was fiercely resented as an apostate by the local Jewish population and Lionel Rothschild came in to support him which was thought to have contributed to his own defeat in the City of London. In the 1870s he supported Disraeli's foreign policy. The displeased Liberals in the constituency put James Bryce up against him and he was defeated.
He died in 1885 aged 71.
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