Richard Rathbone (2 December 1788 – 10 November 1860) was a merchant and member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool in England.

Richard Rathbone
in 1840 in the crowd at the conference
Born(1788-12-02)2 December 1788
Died10 November 1860(1860-11-10) (aged 71)
OccupationMerchant
Known forAbolitionism

Life

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Rathbone was the second son of William Rathbone IV. Richard was a commission merchant, setting up in partnership with his brother, William Rathbone V in 1809.

On 8 April 1817 Rathbone married his half-cousin, the illustrator and writer, Hannah Mary (5 July 1798 – 26 March 1878), daughter of Joseph Reynolds of Ketley, Shropshire, and granddaughter of Richard Reynolds. Richard devoted a lot of his time to the family business, which concerned his wife.[1]

He retired in 1835. As a committed opponent of the slave trade, he published in 1836 Letter to the President of the Liverpool Anti-Slavery Society.

Rathbone attended the 1840 anti-slavery convention in London and was included in the painting which is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.[2]

Rathbone and his wife had six children:[1]

  • Hannah Mary (1818–1853)
  • Richard Reynolds (1820–1898)
  • Margaret (b. 1821 later Dixon)
  • William Benson (1826–1892)
  • Basil (1824–1853)
  • Emily (1838–1907, later Greg)

References

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  1. ^ a b Wilkes, Joanne (2004). "Rathbone [née Reynolds], Hannah Mary (1798–1878), writer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23158. Retrieved 4 September 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ The Anti-Slavery Society Convention Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, accessed April 2009