Richard Reynolds

It was the proud boast of Bristolians in the nineteenth century that their city stood at the head of all other cities, for the “magnitude and the diversity of its benevolent institutions.” Certainly the city had produced many individuals who had left substantial sums to charity, many of whom are little remembered today. One of those great benefactors was Richard Reynolds (1735 to 1816), who played a crucial part in the development of one of the centres of the Industrial Revolution, and became renowned for his generosity in the city of his birth, and elsewhere.

It is estimated that during his life his charitable gifts amounted to £200,000, over £15 million in today’s money. This is almost as much as the sum given by Edward Colston, and yet today there is little to remind us of this remarkable man.

Richard Reynolds was born in 1735, at 17, Corn Street, Bristol, where his father, a minister of the Society of Friends (the “Quakers”), carried on the business of an iron merchant. From the age of five, until he was fourteen, he attended a boarding school in Wiltshire and he was then apprenticed to William Fry, a grocer in Castle Street.

In 1756 he embarked upon a journey that was to transform his life, both personally and professionally. He was sent, by his father’s friend, Thomas Goldney, on a business trip to Shropshire. Goldney was in partnership with Abraham Darby, the son of a man who could be described as one of the “fathers” of the Industrial Revolution. The work and inventions of Abraham Darby senior, at his factory at Cheese Lane (near Temple Meads) and the brass works at Baptist Mills, Bristol, (close to what is now Junction 3 of the M32), were to be of international importance. He later went on to found the great Shropshire iron industry at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire.

Whilst in Shropshire, Reynolds fell in love with Darby’s daughter, Hannah, and they married the following year. Reynolds’ father-in-law died in 1763, and Reynolds managed the Coalbrookdale works, whilst his brothers-in-law were growing up.

During the first half of the eighteenth century scarcely any iron was manufactured in England, as the woods had been cut down and various attempts to use coal had failed. It was under Reynolds’s supervision that the problem was overcome, and coal was used, not only to smelt iron ore, but also to turn the cast metal into iron that could be used. He assisted one of his workmen to take out a patent of this process, which produced enormous profits for the Works. It was under Reynolds that the Works were extended, and he is credited with the manufacture of the cylinders of the early steam engines and being the first to use cast-iron for colliery tram rails.

Reynolds seems to have been alive to the awful working conditions because, having purchased the Manor of Madeley, in which Coalbrookdale was situated; he laid out walks through the woods for the benefit of the ironworkers and their families. He also provided decent accommodation.

In correspondence with members of the Government, Reynolds showed himself to be ahead of his times in terms of social reform, believing that hanging should be abolished and that harsh prison conditions should be improved.

In 1807, when the slave trade was abolished, Reynolds decided that this great event should be marked, not by fireworks, but by distributing food and fuel to the poor of Bristol. In that year he formed the Samaritan Society. The Society still exists today, and the trustees meet quarterly, to award small grants to people in need, who are suffering from health related problems and who are resident in the city of Bristol.

It’s funding, and that of a number of other charities, can be traced to an endowment fund, consisting of the several farm properties purchased in Monmouthshire. The rental income generated by these properties was used to support a number of charities, including the Bristol Infirmary, the Stranger’s Friend Society and the Asylum for Poor Orphan Girls.

In a deed dated 5 December 1809, Reynolds also gave £4,000 to be used “for the relief and better support” of the residents at Trinity Hospital (John Barstaple’s almshouse) in Old Market Street and, in the following year, he donated further funds which allowed the weekly allowance to the residents of other Bristol almshouses to be raised.

Reynolds also contributed to another charity, which now forms part of the Relief in Need Charity, administered by the Trustees of Bristol Charities. In 1799 it was announced that Alderman John Merlott, who had recently died, had left £3,000 to be held by the Corporation, and that the income should be paid, in sums of £10 per annum, to blind persons aged over 50. With an additional £4,000 from the Alderman’s wife and £2,450 from Richard Reynolds the fund was able to make annual payments to 45 blind people.

In the late summer of 1816 Reynolds had travelled from his home at 7, St James’ Square, Bristol, where he had lived since 1804, to Cheltenham, to improve his health. Here, it is reported that he was active until the week before his death. He died on 10 September 1816, in his 81st year, and was buried at the Quakers’ burial ground in Rosemary Street, close to the Society’s Meeting House.

A Memorial Tablet to Richard Reynolds was unveiled at his old home in St. James’ Square in 1907, but the house was demolished in the 1960s. With it went one of the few reminders of this great Bristolian.