3-078-023 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Mr. John. G. Richardson, of Ulster, 1890. Engraving from a photograph by Francis Guy. 'For more than half a century Mr. Richardson has occupied a foremost position in Ulster as a philanthropist and "captain of industry." He was chairman of the manufacturing company Richardson, Sons, and Owden, Belfast. He belonged to a family which for generations had been prominently connected with the leading industry of Ulster. Educated at Ballitore, then a seat of learning, and at Frenchay, Gloucestershire, his own tastes would have led him to the Bar; but, for family reasons, he entered upon a business career. At Bessbrook, his model "temperance town" - the Saltaire of Ireland - he successfully proved that temperance philanthropy is not a mere theory. About 1847 he purchased the Bessbrook estate, of 6000 acres, and determined to found a model industrial town without the presence of liquor. Here the Bessbrook Spinning Factory was built, which produces linens famous in England and America, and around which has sprung up a town of some 4000 inhabitants, in which there is not a public-house, pawnshop, or policeman. Mr. Richardson took part in the formation of the Irish National School system. He was President of the Irish Temperance League'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.