Richard Dykes Alexander (15 August 1788 – 1865) was a businessman and philanthropist based in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, Suffolk. Richard Dykes Alexander

Family life

He was the son of Dykes Alexander (1763–1849) and Hannah Brewster. His parents were

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

and he followed his father into the banking business in Ipswich. In 1810 he married Ann Dillwyn, daughter of

William Dillwyn William Dillwyn (1743, Philadelphia – 28 September 1824) was a British American-born Quaker of Welsh descent, active in the abolitionist movement in colonial America and after 1774, Great Britain. He was one of the twelve committee members of ...

and Sarah Dillwyn of Higham Lodge, Walthamstow. He built Alexander House for his family on the junction of St Matthews Street and Portman Road. In 2009 this building was refurbished for use as student flats. Ann Dillwyn's sister, Lydia Dillwyn married John Sims, making their son

William Dillwyn Sims William Dillwyn Sims (7 July 1825, Westminster – 7 March 1895) was an English industrialist and artist based in Ipswich. In 1851 he joined the company Ransomes and May, in which his uncle Charles May was a partner. Charles left in 1852 and the ...

, a local industrialist, his nephew.

Business career

Richard went into his father's banking business at the age of 15, becoming a partner when he reached the

age of majority The age of majority is the threshold of legal adulthood as recognized or declared in law. It is the moment when minors cease to be considered such and assume legal control over their persons, actions, and decisions, thus terminating the contr ...

, i.e. 21. He retired around 1830 for health reasons and devoted himself to religious and worthy causes. Nevertheless, he retained some business appointments until his death: he was chairman of the

Ipswich dock The Ipswich Docks, Ipswich wet dock and the wet dock,) are a series docks in Port of Ipswich located at a bend of the River Orwell which has been used for trade since at least the 8th Century. A wet dock was constructed in 1842 which was 'the big ...

Commission and the Ipswich branch of the Suffolk Alliance Fire Office. He was also a director of the Ipswich Water Works Company.

Other activities

He played a major role in the local Quaker community and in the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

. He was a friend of

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

who lived in nearby

Playford, Suffolk Playford is a small village in Suffolk, England, on the outskirts of Ipswich. It has about 215 residents in 90 households. The name comes from the Old English '' plega'' meaning play, sport; used of a place for games, or a courtship or mating-pl ...

. They shared

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

sympathies, and were both committee members of the

Peace Society The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a pioneering British pacifist organisation that was active from 1816 until the 1930s. H ...

. In 1849 he was the founder of the Ipswich Ragged School, based in Waterworks Street. He attended the first meeting of the

Ipswich and Suffolk Freehold Land Society Ipswich and Suffolk Freehold Land Society (FLS) was founded in 1849 as part of the "forty-shilling freeholders movement" which developed across England. Its aim was to enable "the ordinary man" to obtain sufficient property to meet the requirements ...

at which took the role of President for the organisation. When he provided land for development in the 1850s, he ensured that some streets should be named after several abolitionists. These included Dillwyn Street which could refer to his father-in law, William or the anti-slavery MP,

Lewis Weston Dillwyn Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS (21 August 1778 – 31 August 1855) was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Whig Member of Parliament (MP). Biography He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn (1743–1824) and ...

, his brother-in law.

Photography

He became a noted pioneer of photography and was supported in this by William Cobb who acted as his assistant and ran a photography business across the road from him in London Road. Three years after Alexander's death, Cobb sold his business to

William Vick William Vick (1833, Ebley – 15 April 1911, Merton) was an English photographer active in Ipswich, Suffolk from 1868 until the 1890s. William was baptised in King's Stanley, Gloucestershire on 25 August 1833. He was the son of a millwright. H ...

. Despite complaining that his health had been seriously damaged by the exposure to chemicals He subsequently ran a family photography business in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

. His nephew

John Dillwyn Llewelyn John Dillwyn Llewelyn FRS FRAS (12 January 1810 – 24 August 1882) was a Welsh botanist and pioneer photographer. Early life He was born in the parish of Llangyfelach, Swansea, Wales, the eldest son of Lewis Weston Dillwyn and Mary Dillwy ...

and niece

Mary Dillwyn Mary Dillwyn (1816–1906) is considered to be the earliest female photographer in Wales, who took photographs of flowers, animals, family and friends in the 1840s and 1850s. She provided a raw insight to the domestic lives of women and childr ...

shared his interest in photography.

Gallery

Richard Dykes Alexander - Maria Candler - Google Art Project.jpg, Maria Candler, Essex abolitionist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Richard Dykes 1788 births 1865 deaths 19th-century English photographers English bankers English Quakers Photographers from Suffolk 19th-century British businesspeople