Document Request: Chris Kite on The London Richardsons
Document Description: Research carried out by Chris Kite for Phil Richardson in 2011, contains a lot of information not gleaned elsewhere
Transcription URL: https://richardson.surnametree.com/library/vdocs/D_48#48
Document Transcription:Conyer Cement Works
Don Sattin (2004) relates the story of the cement works in Conyer village on the creek of the same name leading off the Swale at Teynham. From the 1850s the Richardson family had business interests in Conyer and in the 1860s Charles Richardson built a cement works at Conyer Quay and opened the Teynham Field brickworks near the railway. [1][1]
In November 1840 Charles Richardson, a builder, married Selina Ellis, a shopkeeper’s daughter, at St Mary’s Parish Church, Lambeth. [2][2] He was recorded as a brick merchant living at South Wharf, Paddington in 1851. He was aged 33 years, a family man, with two daughters and three sons: William, Alexander and Walter. [3][3] Ten years later they were living in Hammersmith and there were two more sons: Frederick and George. [4][4] A directory dated 1867 gives addresses for the London end of the enterprise as a depot at Number 6 South Wharf, on the Paddington Basin and another at Brunswick Wharf, Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall. [5][5] The family was still living in Hammersmith in 1871. Charles was now described as a brick manufacturer, as were all three elder sons. [6][6]
In 1950, a brief history was written by the company to celebrate its 100th anniversary:
“The year 1950 marks the Centenary of our business founded by the late Charles Richardson in 1850 with wharves and offices at Vauxhall and Paddington, these premises being the London points of distribution for his stock bricks and red facing bricks manufactured at Teynham in Kent and Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush. Portland cement and Roman cement manufactured at Conyers Quay near Sittingbourne were also handled here.
On his death the founder of the Company was succeeded by his two sons, Mr Alec and Mr Walter T Richardson and a partnership formed, to be known by the title of A & WT Richardson until, following the decease of Mr Alec Richardson, the firm was formed into a private limited company in 1923...
...It is interesting to note that Mr Charles Richardson commenced business immediately after the repeal of the tax on bricks which lasted from 1784-1850 and following the demand created for the then "new" Portland Cement first discovered in 1824 by William Aspdin a bricklayer of Leeds.
The White City at Shepherds Bush now occupies the old site of the Wood Lane Brickworks, from which more than a million stock bricks were supplied for the foundations of the Albert Memorial. In more recent years the Company also supplied the bricks used in the foundation of Eros, when that graceful statue by Gilbert was finally replaced in Piccadilly Circus.
Early in the present century bricks and Portland cement were also supplied for Surrey's famous home of cricket, the Oval at Kennington, whilst much of the early production of cement from the Conyer Works was exported to New Zealand, where the high quality of the product won for us the Silver Medal at New Zealand International Exhibition in 1882.
The Company ceased production of cement at Conyer in 1906 and of bricks at Teynham in 1919, but in 1945 with the acquisition of the Auclaye Brickfields Limited, are again producing multi coloured stock bricks, the bulk of which have been supplied to help meet the needs of London's post war housing problems, many millions being used by the London County Council and the Ministry of Works.
Times have changed, demands have changed, and methods of transport have changed since 1850, but the good name of the Company gained by its service to the building trade has remained unchanged throughout the last 100 years...” [7][7]
Charles Richardson owned several sailing barges, which carried his bricks and cement from Conyer Quay to the depots in London and often into the Regent’s Canal, “squeezing into the locks and ‘legging’ their way through the long tunnels such as Maida Vale.” (Don Sattin.) [8][8]
William Richardson, of the family’s Wood Lane Brickworks, Shepherds Bush purchased the new sailing barge Jeffie from her builder, John Bird of Teynham, in March 1874. In doing so he obtained a mortgage, recorded in the barge’s register as £2000, an amount far in excess of the cost of a barge at that time. [9][9] The sum was advanced to him by an Edward Pinnock of Stuttgart, Germany. In January 1881 William sold the barge to Charles Richardson, together with his other barges Lydia, also bought in 1874 and Phoebe, bought in 1876. Thereafter he seems to have dropped out of the picture. [10][10] The mortgage on Jeffie was paid off by Charles Richardson within a year. The more manageable sums of £150 each raised on Lydia and Phoebe remained on the books until Charles Richardson’s death.[11][11]
In the census of 1881 Charles Richardson, at the age of 62, was recorded living at Cary Castle, [12][12] St Marychurch, Torquay, Devon with a live-in staff of four to look after him, [13][13] while his wife and son Walter continued to live at the house in Hammersmith. [14][14] Charles died on 30th January 1890 [15][15] four years after his wife. [16][16]
Sattin (2004) tells how three members of the Richardson family: Charles, Rowley and Walter Richardson combined their interests with another merchant and manufacturer in the brick trade, Eastwood & Co., and several other manufacturers of bricks and cement to form an association. Charles relinquished any active involvement in the firm and his barges were passed on; some, in the 1880s, went to Eastwoods [17][17] and others belonged to his sons Alexander and Walter.
Rowley William Crabb Richardson [18][18] was descended from another branch of the family. He was born in 1822, twinned with his sister Elizabeth, at Gosport near Portsmouth . [19][19] His father was a Royal Naval Officer, William Richardson (1785-1864), [20][20] [21][21] who rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral. [22][22] Rowley made a career in the civil service becoming Superintendent of the India Branch at the Admiralty. [23][23] He married Sarah Emma Radcliffe in Kingston, Surrey in 1855 [24][24] and they lived at Berrylands Road and then The Avenue, Berrylands, Kingston with their family of five daughters and four sons. [25][25] After leaving the service he was appointed Secretary of a public company. [26][26] He died, aged 67, on 5th September 1889 at his home, leaving an estate of £6597. [27][27] He owned a number of sailing barges jointly with Edward Frederick Quilter, described as a gentleman, of Saville Row, London. Neither was involved with the running of the barges, devolving the management of the vessels to Eastwood’s manager, Arthur Byrne. On Rowley Richardson’s death Quilter acquired his share of the barges and a few years later they passed to Eastwood & Co. [28][28]
Following the retirement (and subsequent death) of Charles, Walter T. Richardson became responsible for the family’s interests at the London depots of South Wharf and Vauxhall and in the manufacture of bricks and cement at Conyer. [29][29] The barges formerly owned by Charles Richardson were now jointly owned by sons Alexander and Walter, although Walter became the managing owner. [30][30] Those barges were largely kept outside the Eastwood’s consortium. [31][31] In 1891 Walter lived with his wife and daughter in Addison Road, Kensington and was described as a cement and brick maker. [32][32] Walter Thomas Richardson died at Kensington in November 1904 leaving an estate of £44,000. His brother Alexander Richardson of Langlands, Northwood was an executor of Walter’s estate [33][33] and assumed the management of the family businesses. [34][34]
New Zealander Phil Richardson, a descendant of Frederick Charles Richardson, says that following a disagreement with his father, Frederick was “told to go into the world and prove himself.” After initially working as clerk for a stockbroker, he went to New Zealand where he did well for himself as a brick manufacturer and merchant. He probably imported bricks from the family brickworks at Teynham as well as making his own. He also dealt in property. In October 1878 he married Catherine Mary Guinness of the brewing family at St Cuthbert’s Church, Collingwood, Nelson, New Zealand. They had nine children between Oct 1879 and 1895 born in Christchurch and Auckland. Frederick returned to England in his 50s and lived in Upper Addison Gardens, Kensington. He died there of ‘flu [35][35] in December 1918. [36][36]
George Canning Richardson became an architect and married Emily Parker at Islington in 1879. [37][37] They moved to Llangollen, Denbighshire, Wales and had three children between 1880 and 1885, all born in Llangollen. [38][38] On his death in July 1892 George and Emily had moved to Parson’s Green, Fulham. [39][39]
In 1919 Eastwoods [40][40] bought out the Richardson’s interests in Conyer and little trace of them remained in 1978 when Don Sattin first wrote “Just Off The Swale.” The cement works was derelict by then, but he described the cement mills at the head of Richardson’s Dock, which Charles Richardson had dug out of the creek, [41][41] as a single storey building across the road from the dock with “double doors opening out on to the road. The bagged cement was wheeled through these to be slid down a chute into barges... Loading must have been a filthy job; the cement was in jute sacks of two hundredweight, and after sliding down the chute and hitting the bottom there was a permanent fog of dust.” Behind the mill buildings were washbacks in parallel with the road and “at the back of the washbacks stood six kilns where the cement was fired... About halfway along Richardson’s Dock there was a wash mill which pumped the mud across the road by means of an overhead chute into the washbacks. The mud barges unloaded close to this wash mill. ” [42][42]
The mud used in the manufacture of cement came from diggings around the shoreline of Foley Island. The diggers or ‘Muddies’ hand dug it out with ‘fly tools’, the traditional narrow wooden spades. A long narrow spit of mud was cut and loaded into the barge using a “very quick wrist action” [43][43] causing the spit to fly up and over the side of the barge into the hold. It was a messy business. So much mud was taken from Foley Island over the years that it became very much smaller. [44][44] Mud was mixed with chalk dug from chalk workings in the Teynham brickfield. The chalk was loaded into side tipping trucks and was hauled down to the washbacks along a tramway laid down to the dock. [45][45] Richardsons had a steam locomotive built by Aveling in 1888, which ran on 3’ 9” gauge rails. [46][46] In the kilns the dried mixture was layered with layers of faggots and coal in the beehive kilns until it was full. “The holes in the kiln were then bricked up and the lot set fire to. After being burnt the kiln was left to cool, then the holes were unbricked and the burnt mud taken to the mill to be ground into powder.” [47][47]
The Rochester Shipping Registers record that the following barges were owned, partly or wholly, by the Richardsons: -
R.W.C. Richardson: Frank, Heron, Mabel, Osprey, Phoebe, Plover, Ruby, Swallow, Swift, William & Eleanor.
Charles Richardson: Alexander, Charles, Eliza, Jeffie, Lydia, Phoebe and William.
William Richardson: Jeffie, Lydia, Phoebe.
Alexander Richardson: Agnes, Alexander, Charles, Eliza, Glendower, Jeffie, Lydia, Nesta, Phoebe, Victory and William.
Walter T. Richardson: Agnes, Alexander, Charles, Eliza, Glendower, Jeffie, Lydia, Phoebe, Victory and William.
Frank Willmott gives, in addition, the following sailing barges as owned by Charles Richardson: Frederick & MaryAnn, Mabel and Sophia. [48][48]
Don Sattin records the following additional barges as owned by members of the Richardson family:
Charles Richardson: Frederick & Mary Ann and Sophia. [49][49]
Rowley Richardson: Active, Arthur & Eliza and George & Ellen. On Charles Richardson’s retirement Frederick & Mary Ann passed to Rowley. [50][50]
John White (2007) lists the following barges as owned by Walter Thomas Richardson in the MNL of 1899: Agnes, Alexander, Charles, Eliza, Glendower, Jeffie, Lydia, Nesta [51][51] , Phoebe, Victory and William.
Chris Kite
10-10-2011
APPENDIX: Sailing Barges.
Sources (unless stated otherwise): Frank Willmott (1977), Richard Hugh Perks (1981), Bob Childs (1993), John White (2007), Ron Green (2010).
Legend: Barge name – Official number; (r) Port of registry; (b) Builder (if known) and place built; (y) Port no. (if known) & year; (t) Registered tonnage; (o) Principal owners (not a complete list); (f) Fate or additional info. where known.
Active - 50302; (r) Rochester; (b) Sittingbourne; (y) 1864; (t) 37; (o) R.W.C. Richardson [52][52] ; Eastwood & Co.; (f) Not recorded in 1916 MNL.
Agnes - 106518; (r) Rochester; (b) Alfred Marconi White, Conyer; (y) 12 in 1896; (t) 36; (o) Walter Thomas Richardson 1896-1905; Alexander Richardson 1905-1914; Cremer, Goodenough & Co., Faversham 1914-1918; Smeed Dean & Co. 1918-1932; [53][53] (f) Condemned and her hull was sold off in May 1931 to J. Brown for £5. [54][54] Registry closed February 1932. [55][55]
Alexander - 58432; (r) Rochester; (b) Queenborough; (y) 20 in 1867; (t) 26; (o) Charles Richardson 1867-1890; Alexander & Walter T. Richardson (joint owners) 1890-1899; Frank Adams, Brentford 1899-1903; (f) Registry closed May 1903, the barge had been converted to a lighter. [56][56]
Arthur & Eliza - 44092; (r) Rochester; (b) Faversham; (y) 1862; (t) 38; (o) R.W. Richardson [57][57]; Eastwood & Co.; John Sparrow, Shotley; (f) Not listed in 1934 MNL.
Charles - 55175; (r) Rochester; (b) Edwin Burgess, Queenborough; (y) 58 in 1866; (t) 36; (o) Charles Richardson 1866-1890; A. & W.T. Richardson 1890-1905; Alexander Richardson 1905-1906; Charles Benjamin Burley 1906; Charles Burley Ltd. 1906-1913; (f) Registry closed November 1913, vessel being broken up. [58][58]
Eliza - 55166; (r) Rochester; (b) Edwin Burgess, Queensborough; (y) 46 in 1866; (t) 35; (o) Charles Richardson 1866-1890; A. & W.T. Richardson 1890-1905; Alexander Richardson 1905-1914; Curtis’s & Harvey 1914-1919; George Austen & Arthur Warr King, Gravesend 1919-1920; Thomas E. Ward, Gravesend & Albert Ernest Schooley, London 1920- . (f) Registry closed December 1940, vessel said to have been broken up and no trace of owner for many years. [59][59]
Frank - 58510; (b) Rochester; (b) Murston; (y) 10 in 1870; (t) 36; (o) George Smeed 1870-1882; John Wood, Singlewell 1882-1886; Eastwood & Co. 1886; Edward Frederick Quilter & R.W.C. Richardson (joint owners) 1886-1893; E.F. Quilter 1893-1895; Eastwood & Co. 1895- ; (f) Registry closed July 1925, vessel broken up. [60][60]
Frederick & Mary Ann - 26602; (r) Rochester; (b) Frindsbury; (y) 1852; (t) 36; (o) Charles Richardson; R.W.C. Richardson; [61][61] Eastwood & Co.; (f) Not listed in 1934.
George & Ellen - 23373; (r) Rochester; (b) Frindsbury; (y) 1845; (t) 39; (o) Woods; R.W.C. Richardson; [62][62] Eastwood & Co.
Glendower - 99923; (r) Rochester; (b) Daniel Wilson Langton, Teynham; (y) 4 in 1893; (t) 37; (o) A & W.T. Richardson 1893-1905; Alexander Richardson 1905-1915; Curtis’s & Harvey 1915-1920; George Austen & Arthur Warr King 1920-1931; T.F. Wood (Gravesend) Limited 1931- ; (f) Register closed 1933, vessel broken up. [63][63]
Heron - 90967; (r) Rochester; (b) R.M. Shrubsall, Milton; (y) 13 in 1884; (t) 40; (o) Eastwood & Co. 1884-1886; E.F. Quilter & R.W. Richardson 1886-1893; E.F. Quilter 1893-1895; Eastwood & Co. 1895-1920; Eastwoods Limited 1820- ; [64][64]
Jeffie - 67072; (r) Rochester; (b) John Bird, Teynham; (y) 6 in 1874; (t) 39; (o) William Richardson 1874-1881; Charles Richardson 1881-1890; A. & W.T. Richardson 1890-1905; Alexander Richardson 1905-1915; Sydney Burley, Borden 1915-1923; (f) Register closed Nov.1923 after letter advising vessel broken up signed by S.W. Burley. [65][65]
Lydia - 67088; (r) Rochester; (b) John Bird, Conyer; (y) 29 in 1874; (t) 40; (o) William Richardson 1874-1881; Charles Richardson 1881-1890; A. & W.T. Richardson 1890-1905; Alexander Richardson 1905-1916; John Nicholls, Faversham 1916- . [66][66]
Mabel - 67053; (r) Rochester; (b) John Bird, Teynham; (y) 11 in 1873; (t) 39; (o) Thomas Lake, Tong 1873-1876; Eastwood & Co. 1876-1886; E.F. Quilter & R.W.C. Richardson 1886-1893; E.F. Quilter 1893-1895; Eastwood & Co. 1895-1896; Alfred Hart 1896-1899; George Turner, Rochester 1899-1919; William Germaney & A.G. Larraman 1919-1920; John Thomas Rayfield, Northfleet 1920; William Claxton Dines, Grays, Essex 1920-1925; (f) Registry closed May 1925; owner reported the barge was a total loss. [67][67]
Nesta - 109926; (r) Rochester (Missing page, some info. lost ); (b) Alfred Marconi White, Teynham completed 1898; (y) 2 in 1899; (t) 42; (o) Alexander Richardson 1905; Albert E. Wood, Milton next Sittingbourne 1905-1934+; [68][68] [69][69] (f) Not listed MNL 1938.
Osprey - 84414; (r) Rochester; (b) R.M. Shrubsall, Rainham; (y) 47 in 1881; (t) 42; (o) Eastwood & Co. 1881-1886; E.F. Quilter & R.W.C. Richardson 1886-1893; E.F. Quilter 1893-1895; Eastwood & Co. 1895-1919; William James Smeed, Frindsbury 1919; (f) W.J. Smeed dismantled Osprey and converted her to a lighter immediately after purchasing her. Register closed September 1919. [70][70]
Phoebe - 74811; (r) Rochester; (b) Jno. Bird, Conyer; (y) 21 in 1876; (t) 56; (o) William Richardson 1876-1881; Charles Richardson 1881-1890; A. & W.T. Richardson 1890- 1905; [71][71] Alexander Richardson 1905-1910; Frederick & Harry Cremer, Faversham 1910-1913; Walter George Penfold, East Greenwich 1913-1930; William Howlett, Gravesend 1930-1939; (f) Vessel “being broken up” December 1939 and Registry closed 1940. [72][72]
Plover - 87227; (r) Rochester; (b) George H. Curel, Frindsbury; (y) 8 in 1884; (t) 43; (o) Eastwood & Co. 1884-1886; E.F. Quilter & R.W.C. Richardson 1886-1893; E.F. Quilter 1893-1895; Eastwood & Co. 1895-1920; Eastwoods Limited 1920-1935. [73][73] [74][74]
Ruby - 67047; (r) Rochester; (b) Nash & Miller, Battersea; (y) 3 in 1873; (t) 38; (o) William Hewett, Pitney 1873-1885; Eastwood & Co. 1885-1886; E.F. Quilter & R.W. Richardson 1886-1893; E.F. Quilter 1893-1895; Eastwood & Co. 1895-1897; William Thomas Rouse, Maidstone 1897-1898; George Thomas Marshall & James Marshall, Strood 1898-1899;(f) Sunk in the Thames, raised and sold as a wreck. Registry closed March 1899. [75][75]
Sophia - 10994; (r) Faversham; (b) Faversham; (y) 1856; (t) 36; (o) Eastwood & Co.; (f) Not listed in 1934.
Swallow - 76621; (r) Rochester; (b) George H. Curel, Frindsbury; (y) 35 in 1877; (t) 41; (o) Eastwood & Co. 1877-1886; E.F. Quilter & R.W. Richardson 1886-1893; E.F. Quilter 1893-1895; Eastwood & Co. 1895-1897; (f) Sunk in collision off Holehaven, October 1897. A search found no trace of the barge. [76][76]
Swift - 67071; (r) Rochester; (b) Nash & Miller, Battersea; (y) 5 in 1874; (t) 37; (o) Eastwood & Co. 1874-1886; E.F. Quilter & R.W. Richardson 1886-1893; E.F. Quilter 1893-1895; Eastwood & Co. 1895-1898; Alfred Thomas Hart, Peckham 1898-1903; A.T. Hart & John Charles Lawrence 1903-1905; John Simmonds Squire & John Calver, Millwall 1905-1906; (f) Registry closed 1906. Vessel sold to be broken up.
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