Richard Hornsby ( Elsham in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

4 June 1790 – 1864) was an inventor and founder of a major agricultural machinery firm that developed steam engines. His firm also developed early diesels and caterpillar tracks. He came from a farming family, the son of William Hornsby and his wife Sarah.

Formation of company

He started his apprenticeship for Havercroft Wheelwright in

Barnetby Barnetby le Wold is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England, located between Brigg and Immingham. The village is also near Barton-upon-Humber. The population of the parish in the 2001 census was 1,593. This incr ...

(

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Bar ...

). He came to

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

in 1810 looking for work. He approached Richard Seaman, the village blacksmith of

Barrowby Barrowby is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is west of Grantham. It overlooks the Vale of Belvoir and has a Grade I listed parish church. The hamlet of Casthorpe is part of the parish. T ...

. When working in Barrowby, he had the idea to put a set of wheels on an adjustable harrow. Seeing this inventiveness, Seaman offered him a partnership in his company. Seaman & Hornsby was started with business partner and blacksmith, Richard Seaman, a fellow

methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

. The firm became Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1828, when Seaman retired. The company made ploughs and

seed drill A seed drill is a device used in agriculture that sows seeds for crops by positioning them in the soil and burying them to a specific depth while being dragged by a tractor. This ensures that seeds will be distributed evenly. The seed drill sow ...

s. By 1840, the company made steam engines, which were used for

traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any t ...

s in the 1850s. These were used for harvesting crops. After Hornsby's death, his firm built the first working (experimental) diesel engine in 1892; it went on to develop the continuous track for agricultural usage in 1905, which revolutionized land warfare.

Personal life and family

Five of his children were Richard (born 1827), Louisa, James (born 1836), Helen Mary Anne and William (born 1838). He died on 6 January 1864. His wife, Mary, died on 15 October 1866, aged 66. At the time of his death he had eight grandchildren. Two of his great-grand children would go to Eton. Although there is no monument to Richard Hornsby, one of his great-grandsons, Richard William Hornsby, is listed on the war memorial in Barrowby, after being killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in Greece. His family were quite wealthy, owning of land, as the Hornsby company was a world leader in engine manufacture, until 1918.

References

External links

R Hornsby & Sons vaporizing oil engine

A portrait

Christening entry on the IGI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornsby, Richard 1790 births 1864 deaths People from Elsham, North Lincolnshire English Methodists Agricultural engineers 19th-century English businesspeople