John Grubb Richardson
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John Grubb Richardson (d. 1891) was a major Irish industrialist who founded the model village of Bessbrook near Newry, in what is now Northern Ireland.
Richardson was the son of James Nicholson Richardson, a wealthy Quaker linen merchant who lived outside Lisburn, County Antrim. Under his father the family firm, JN Richardson Sons and Owden had achieved great success and the family became one of the richest in Ireland. John Grubb, however, was to greatly advance the family and the firm.
In 1845 he built Bessbrook to house 4,000 workers at his mill there; in planning the village his Christian values were evident and he refused to have a public house or pawn brokers erected. One of John's five brothers ran an New York office of the firm.[1]
Richardson turned down a Baronetcy from David Lloyd George, a reward for his good works, due to his belief in equality.[2]
He died at Moyallon House, an estate inherited through his wife's (Jane Marion Wakefield) family, near Gilford, County Down.[3] His estate surrounding his home The Wood House and Derrymore House (now a National Trust property) is a designated historic park.[4]
