The son of a successful sugar merchant, Richardson joined the family business at the age of 17 following a classical education in Edinburgh. When the sugar market moved to Glasgow's Royal Exchange in 1829, the firm's established premises in, variously, Virginia Street, Miller Street and Wilson Street. The West Indian market meant that the firm also retained property in Mauritius.
In 1867 Richardson chaired an inquiry into the Caledonian Railway Company, of which he was a major shareholder. He was also a director of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway and, in 1869, a member of the Audit Committee of the London and North-Western Railway.
He died in Budapest, following an attack of dysentery, on 26 June 1872.
IN recalling the features of character of the late Mr. Thomas Richardson of Ralston, it is impossible to dissociate the remembrance of his father - the founder of the firm of James Richardson & Co.
Mr. James Richardson came upon the field when the sugar trade in Scotland was about to assume a new phase, and his energy and enterprise contributed to its development.
The brown and middling qualities of West Indian sugar comprised fully three fourths of the entire import into the country. These passed into the pans of the refiners of Glasgow, Greenock, Port-Glasgow, and Leith, and were manufactured into loaves and lumps. The remaining fourth passed directly into consumption as grocery sugars. The distribution of these qualities throughout the country formed the principal part of the business of the firm, which, though domiciled in Edinburgh, had increasingly intimate relations with the Clyde markets, and eventually the headquarters of the firm were established in Glasgow. The firm of James Richardson & Co. appears in the "Glasgow Directory" of 1822, at 2 Antigua Place, off Nelson Street, at that time in the centre of business, but now completely deserted by the mercantile community. The introduction of the patent system of refining, known as Howard's,(1) in 1822, by which crushed was manufactured so as to resemble the finer qualities of raw sugar, gave a fresh impetus to the trade. From that time, from the greater facility with which molasses, as compared with sugar, could be made into crushed, the import of molasses into the Clyde began to increase, so that from a few hundred puncheons it gradually rose to forty to fifty thousand puncheons. The revolution in the system of refining during the last twenty years has been so complete, that since 1872 the import of molasses has been entirely restricted to the demand for distillation. From an early period the system of credit in the sugar market had encouraged needy persons to frequent it, and numerous failures had from time to time taken place. The merchant drew upon the buyer at four months for both duty and short price. The duty in 1822 on brown Muscovado qualities was 27s. per cwt., and the average price was about 54s. per cwt. duty paid. The purchase of 100 hogsheads at that time involved a sum of about £5,000. A buyer had thus the loan for four months of a large sum, and if unscrupulous as to releasing himself from his pecuniary exigencies, he could get back from the Customs the duty already paid by the merchant, by exporting the sugars, or by shipping the parcel to Leith or Dublin, and placing it again under bond. As far back as 1808, and again in 1817, efforts had been made to change the system, but they had proved abortive; the principal argument being, that from the difficulty of disposing of the sugars imported into the Clyde, the merchants could not afford to limit the number of buyers. With characteristic shrewdness Mr. Richardson saw that the man who paid cash would eventually command the market. He sometimes took the seller by surprise by the boldness with which he faced a large transaction.
About 1822 some of the leading members of the trade, other than importers, were Mr. Archibald Warden, Mr. David Sim of Coulter, Mr. John Taylor, Mr. John May (of Ewing May & Co.), and Mr. Alex. Mackenzie Kirkland. Amongst refiners, the names may be recalled of MacFie, Fairrie, Leitch, Angus, Balderston, Matthew Brown, Tasker in Greenock and Port-Glasgow, and at a later period the names of McLeish, Kayser, Spiers and Wrede, and of those who represented the refiners in Glasgow, Samuel Wilson and James McNair, and a few years earlier than 1822, that of Thomas Phillips.
Before Mr. Richardson came to reside permanently in Glasgow, which he did about 1830, he operated in the sugar market through the firm of Thomson & Leslie, whose place of business was 6 Antigua Place. When the sugar market was removed to the Royal Exchange in 1829, this firm, then represented by Mr. Thomson (2) only, followed the movement westward to 45 Virginia Street, and their neighbours in Antigua Place located themselves at 28 Miller Street, and eventually, in 1835, at 54 Virginia Street, being the same premises which afterwards, by the change of the principal entrance, became so well known as 89 Wilson Street.
The removal of the Glasgow sugar market from the Tontine in the Trongate did not involve any change in the system of laying the samples out upon tables and of naming prices at a particular hour of the day.(3) The proportion of the import of West India sugar to that of foreign being latterly barely about one tenth part, the market, after an existence of about seventy-six years in Glasgow, under the auspices of the West India Association, was transferred to Greenock in 1883, where the sugar trade is now centred. There were four market days in Glasgow, leaving Wednesday and Saturday free, to enable the members of the trade to visit Greenock and Port-Glasgow. The Lochgoil steamer, by which they travelled, left the Broomielaw at half-past seven in the morning, and breakfast was served on the passage down, and after spending two hours or so in business, they generally found their way back to Glasgow about two o'clock. When there was fog the passage was tedious, and not without hazard. One sugar man was kept all night off Dumbarton in a steamer, with little food and inadequate sleeping accommodation. Mr. Richardson generally sat near the funnel, enveloped in a blue cloak, interesting himself in some book he had brought with him. He was an omnivorous reader. After a drive of about five miles from Springhall, near Rutherglen, he glanced hurriedly at his letters, which were brought to him before the steamer started, and prepared himself for the eventualities of the day, whether to sell or buy. When the railway to Greenock was opened on 31st March, 1841, his journey became a daily one, and he persevered till within about a year of his death, which took place at Ralston, on January 18, 1860, in the seventieth year of his age. His remains lie in the Necropolis. He had bought the property of Ralston, his first most important acquisition as a landed proprietor, in 1841.
As an illustration of the promptitude with which he entered into a transaction of importance, he bought on the occasion of one of these periodical visits to Greenock, two vessels that had been consigned from New Brunswick for sale, but which from the unprecedented depression in that description of property, had lain in the harbour for a year without attracting a purchaser. Within about three weeks the vessels were coppered and fitted out with shovels and bagging, and despatched to the Island of Ichaboe, off the Coast of Africa. The "Cashmere" sailed from Greenock on the 22nd May, 1844, and the "Levant" at about the same time, and in about six months both returned with about 500 tons or so each of guano - the one being berthed in the harbour of Greenock on the 30th November, and the other on the 2nd December of that year.
The value of that description of guano at the time, was about £7 10s. per ton. The discovery of the Island of Ichaboe, with its enormous deposits, in some parts 30 to 40 feet deep, had led to such a demand for that class of vessels that within a year their value was doubled, and Mr. Richardson reaped the advantage of the change. Messrs. Alexander and John Downie of this city took Captain Parr into their confidence, who had brought into Bristol a small cargo from the island, and in the autumn of 1843, they were amongst the first to charter vessels on a large scale with this object. Within a year, as many as about 300 vessels, waiting for cargo, were anchored off the island.(4) The altitude of the island, inclusive of the deposits, was about 76 feet; the extreme length was 1,300 yards, and the breadth 400 yards. Rules for the government of all occupying pits and owning shipping stages, and as to the sale of intoxicating liquors, were agreed to, on board H.M. steam vessel "Thunderbolt," on 14th May, 1844. It might otherwise have become a scene of disorder. It was swept clean as with a besom of all deposits, and probably from first to last, in the course of years, 150,000 to 200,000 tons have been removed from it.
"Tell me," Mr. Richardson used to say, "any general article of commerce that I have not bought or sold"; though, at the same time, he admitted it was easy to make money, but difficult to keep it.
The growing importance of the market and the relatively limited supply of West India sugar led to the firm establishing a house in Mauritius. The first importation into the Clyde from that island took place in 1828. It was not, however, under their auspices. The admission of Mauritius sugar into consumption in this country, at the same rate of duty as that on British West India, had been opposed, in 1825, by the West India Association with such effect, that the proposal was in abeyance for a year. Mr. Huskison had said that it was physically impossible that the island could produce more than 30,000 tons of sugar. This was the estimated production when Mr. David Richardson, the second son of Mr. Richardson, went to the colony in 1839. Within about twenty-five years from that time, the production had gradually advanced to 160,000 tons. Messrs. Richardson & Co. held for many years the position of one of the principal houses in Mauritius.
Mr. Richardson, in driving into town from Ralston, had often interested himself in the case of the children living near the half-way house, who were so far from school either at Glasgow or Paisley. He bequeathed £1,000 to build a schoolhouse, and his trustees, together with his son Thomas, eventually carried out his benevolent wishes, in conjunction with Lord Blantyre. He was a Deputy-Lieutenant of the County of Renfrew. The estate of Ralston was inherited by his eldest son Thomas, the estate of Hartfield by his son David, and the estate of Gartconnell by his son John. Mr. Alexander Ronaldson, who married his daughter Catherine, shared for many years the burden of the business with Mr. Richardson and his son Thomas. Mr. Ronaldson, within two years or so of his retirement from the firm, was elected to the office of Dean of Guild, which he filled with much acceptance to the community. It was during his term of office that the Merchants' House in March, 1863, addressed the Prince of Wales in suitable terms on his marriage, and again in February, 1864, on the birth of an heir to the throne.
It was the natural fruit of such training, in earnest devotion to business, and of unflagging industry, that Thomas Richardson should have become a thorough business man. He was taken into his father's counting-house at the age of seventeen, at an annual salary of £25, and from that hour he never cost his father a penny. He entered the Edinburgh Academy at eight years of age. He attended the Latin and Greek classes at the University, under Professors Pillans and Dunbar, and when his father came to Glasgow to reside permanently, he attended the logic and moral philosophy classes at the College. Young as he was at the time, he took a great interest in the passing of the Reform Bill of 1830. As he advanced in life his straightforward manliness of character became more apparent to the community. Though thoroughly alive to his own interest, he always took a liberal view of a commercial question. He was a kind and considerate man. He advocated free trade, but with reciprocity. For more than twenty years he took a leading position in all the questions affecting the sugar market arising out of legislation. For forty years and upwards the article was subjected more or less to harassing uncertainties, such as the admission of slave-grown sugar, the imposition or modification of duties, the question of refining under bond, and that of the introduction to home consumption of bounty-fed foreign sugar. He was distinguished by his clear perception of the bearings of any point in what was brought before him, by his resolute will, and by his integrity of purpose. From the grasp which he could take of a subject, he was well fitted to act as an arbiter in cases of dispute. Amongst such, he was co-referee with Mr. Bolton, now member for Stirlingshire, in 1855 and 1856, in a case that had been withdrawn from the Court of Session. It arose out of a contract that had been entered into, for the introduction of Chinese coolies into Havana.
Being a considerable shareholder in the Caledonian Railway Company, he was entrusted, along with a small body of gentlemen, in 1867, to conduct an inquiry into the affairs of the Company - an inquiry that extended over several months, and which resulted in some recommendations which it is believed have proved to be of advantage to the Company. Mr. Thomas Richardson was chairman, and the Committee was composed of Mr. Charles Cowan, late M.P. for Edinburgh; Mr. George Smith, of George Smith & Sons; and Mr. William Spens, of the Scottish Amicable Insurance Office. The report of the Committee was issued on 4th January, 1868. Subsequently to this, he became a director of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway, and remained upon the Board till his death. It was no doubt from his experience in railway matters that he was elected a member of the Audit Committee of the London and North-Western Railway for 1869 - a Committee consisting of five shareholders belonging to different parts of the country - all men of good standing. In that Company he was a shareholder from 1866 till 1872.
In 1871 Mrs. Richardson accompanied him in a voyage to Alexandria. They went up the Nile, and passed through Palestine on their way home. At Pesth he was attacked with dysentery, and died there, on the 26th June, 1872, having completed on the 13th January of that year the fifty-sixth year of his age. A monument surmounted by a bust, and with a likeness in bas-relief by the late Mr. Ewing of Glasgow, sculptor, in the beautiful cemetery that overlooks the Danube, marks the spot where his remains lie. His widow, who was Miss Young, of Edinburgh, survives him, and several sons and daughters - the third son, George, having fallen heir, in 1884, to the estate of Ralston by the decease of his brother, Robert Young Richardson.
(1) Howard was a member of the Norfolk family.
(2) Mr. T. S. Thomson spent the closing years of his life at Dunoon, in a villa which he had built for himself, and being a bachelor, he sometimes paid visits to the Continent, his friends learning of his whereabouts by a letter, it may have been, from the shores of the North Sea, where he had wandered to see the sun at midnight, and again, within the intervals of a few months, from the Piraeus at Athens, describing his amusement in catching butterflies.
(3) The market was held from 1.30 to 3.30, and the door of the room was closed at the ringing of a bell.
(4) The time occupied in loading vessels of the size of the "Cashmere" and "Levant" extended over thirty-six to thirty-eight working days.
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