Samuel Flake served as the President of province of Bengal in British India from the year 1718 to 1723. He was one of the most prominent Colonial administrators of the British East India Company. Flake was appointed as the President of Bengal Presidency on 12 January 1718 and was preceded by Robert Hedges as the President of the Bengal province.

The Bengal Presidency was one of the 3 major Presidencies in British India, along with Bombay Presidency and Madras Presidency. It was originally comprised east and west Bengal and was a colonial region of the British Empire in India. The region included the territories of undivided Bengal like West Bengal, Tripura, Orissa, Meghalaya, Bihar, Assam and modern Bangladesh. The Bengal Presidency proper was formed with the signing of the treaties of 1765 between the Nawab of Oudh, the Mughal Emperor and the authorities of the British East India Company. As a result of this the regions of Orissa, Bihar, Meghalaya and Bengal were placed under the administrative control of the British East India Company.

Unlike the British Provinces of Bombay and Madras, Bengal Presidency included the British territories located towards the north of the Central Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh), from the openings of the river Brahmaputra and the Ganges River. It also incorporated areas in British Punjab and the Himalayas as well. Samuel Flake served in office as the President of province of Bengal till 17 January 1723 and was succeeded by John Deane as the President of Bengal Presidency, who acted as Bengal's President for 2 separate terms, from 1723 to 1726 and again from 1728 to 1732.

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