Richard Champion of Bristol

Richard Champion (1743–1791) was an English merchant and manufacturer, who emigrated to the United States in 1784.

Champion was born into a Quaker merchant family from the Bristol area in England, the son of Joseph Champion (1714–1794), a merchant, and his wife Elizabeth Rogers (d. 1745), daughter of the merchant Francis Rogers. Sarah Fox (1745–1811) the diarist, who married the banker Charles Fox of Plymouth, was his sister. His relations Nehemiah and William and their predecessors were involved in the manufacture of brass for several generations, initially in partnership with Abraham Darby.

After the death of his mother, Champion moved with his father, Joseph, to London where he received his education. Returning to Bristol around 1762 he worked for another uncle, Richard "Gospel" Champion who was a merchant in the city selling goods to the Caribbean and America. In this post Richard formed relationships with traders on the east coast of America, and encounterd the attitude of colonial Americans to the British government.

In 1766 Champion inherited some funds from his uncle and set up as a merchant in his own right. In 1767 he was admitted to the Society of Merchant Venturers in Bristol, and began to campaign on behalf of those involved in the American trade.

Champion's activities as a merchant involved forming relationships with prominent American counterparts, including Robert Morris of Philadelphia. Champion imported wheat from Morris and sold it in England. Another was Henry Laurens of South Carolina, a prominent politician in the State. He also cultivated other important figures, writing to Benjamin Franklin and to George Washington.

Champion became treasurer of the Bristol Royal infirmary at the age of 22, following other family members in the same role. He participated in charitable activities all of his life, though his Quaker beliefs were sometimes tested.

Champion met William Cookworthy around 1764; and when Cookworthy, the founder of the Plymouth Porcelain Manufactory, moved this business in 1770, it was to Champion he turned as manager. The wares were, uniquely in England, of a hard paste recipe, made from materials discovered by Cookworthy and owned by Thomas Pitt. Champion was a Whig, and his role in getting Edmund Burke elected as MP for Bristol in 1774 led to a friendship with Burke and to further active involvement in Whig politics. In the same year, 1774, Champion bought out Cookworthy and became the owner of the china manufactory.

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