Richard Hornsby & Sons

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Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Lincolnshire, England. The company bearing the name of Richard Hornsby (1790-1864), the agricultural engineer, was founded when Richard opened a blacksmithy in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1815 with Richard Seaman. The company became Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1828, when Richard bought out his partner's ownership.

R. Hornsby & Sons grew into a major manufacturer of agricultural machinery, at their Spittle Gate Works. The firm went on to produce steam engines used to drive threshing machines and other equipment such as traction engines, and to develop caterpillar tracks; these were developed and patented by Hornsby's chief engineer (and managing director), David Roberts. These were first used on tractors which served with the British Army towing artillery from 1906, but were later fitted to tanks which were used in the First World War. In 1909, a development model called the Little Caterpillar was demonstrated to the War Office. The army officers present at the demonstration believed it would frighten the horses.

Work with Herbert Akroyd Stuart in the 1890s lead to the world's first commercial compression-ignition engines being made in Grantham (from 1892). 45,000 of these engines were made by Hornsbys. They would provide electricity for lighting the Taj Mahal, Rock of Gibraltar, Statue of Liberty, many lighthouses and for powering Marconi's first trans-atlantic radio broadcast.

In September 1918, the company were bought out by Ruston & Proctor of Lincoln.