Samuel Courtauld was a British industrialist who developed his family firm, Courtaulds, to become eventually the world's largest textile company.

Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtaulds plc and Courtaulds Textiles Ltd.