John Grubb Richardson

Who was John Grubb Richardson?

John Grubb Richardson was an Irish linen merchant, industrialist and philanthropist who founded the model village of Bessbrook near Newry in 1845, in what is now Northern Ireland. Five years later he founded a major Atlantic steamship line that significantly improved conditions for immigrant passingers fleeing Ireland after the potato famine. He also founded Richardson Fertilizer Limited that remained in business under its original name until 2002.

Richardson was the second of ten children of James Nicholson Richardson, a wealthy Quaker linen merchant, and Anna Grubb, from a large Quaker family in Clonmel. The Richardson family originally came to Ireland from England in 1622 and the Grubb family also came from England in 1656. John Richardson was raised at Glenmore House, outside Lisburn, County Antrim. At the age of eleven, he boarded for three years at Ballitore, County Kildare before attending another Quaker school at Frenchay, Gloucestershire.

In 1844, Richardson married Helena Grubb of Cahir Abbey, Co. Tipperaray, who was a distant cousin through his mother. She was also related to Thomas Grubb, founder of the Grubb Telescope Company.