Memorial to William Westley Richards in Birmingham Cathedral

William Westley Richards (24 November 1789 – 11 September 1865) was a British firearms manufacturer and founder of

Westley Richards Westley Richards is a British manufacturer of guns and rifles and also a well established gunsmith. The company was founded in 1812 by William Westley Richards, who was responsible for the early innovation of many rifles used in wars featuring ...

. Richards was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England to Theophilus Richards and Mary Bingham. He married his first wife, Ann Barlow in 1813. They had six children: Westley, Emma, Caroline, Edward Harding, Ellen, and Mary Anne. William and Ann divorced before 1823. He married his second wife, Harriett Seale (1793–1865) on 18 January 1823 at

St Pancras Old Church St Pancras Old Church is a Church of England parish church in Somers Town, Central London. It is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras, and is believed by many to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England. The church i ...

, London. He had three children by his second marriage, Charles, George Seale, and William. William died 11 September 1865 at Hall Hill,

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...

, Warwickshire. In 1812, at the age of 22, he established the

gunmaking business in Birmingham, which still bears his name. His family background had been in fine

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...

and the gun trade. He coined the motto, "to be the maker of as good a gun as can be made" which is still used. Richards was an innovator, creating a number of gun-related

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s. The most significant were the patent relating to the use of a new waterproof

primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a t ...

for the ignition of

percussion gun The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise t ...

s and also the first flip-up

sight Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the ...

, which went on to be used by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. Richards opened a gun store in London in 1815 on

New Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...

. The store was owned and managed by William Bishop, known as the Bishop of Bond Street. Cavalry carbine, 1865 - BL Foster 994

Control of the

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

company was inherited by Westley Richards, eldest son of the founder. Richards carried on in a similar vein to his father, innovating various guns and registering patents.

References

External links

Westley Richards history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, William Westley 1789 births 1865 deaths People from Birmingham, West Midlands Firearm manufacturers of the United Kingdom