Richard Ford (English writer)

Richard Ford
Richard Ford by Antonio Chatelain
Born	1796
Died	August 31, 1858 Heavitree
Nationality	British
Subject	Travels in Spain

Richard Ford (1796–1858) was an English travel writer known for his books on Spain. Born in Chelsea into a high-class family and educated in Oxford, he first moved to Spain in 1830, where he travelled extensively and collected notes and drawings. Upon return to England, he wrote an account of his journeys in A Handbook for Travellers in Spain, first published in 1845, described as one of masterpieces of the travel literature genre. An erudite and art collector, he befriended many important art and literature figures of his time. Ford was a skilled drawer himself, and made illustrations for his own and his friends' books.

Ford was born at 129 Sloane Street, Chelsea on 21 April 1796, the elder son of Richard Ford (1758–1806), MP 1789–1791, Chief Magistrate at Bow Street and knighted 1801 and his wife Marianne (1767–1849), daughter of Benjamin Booth, East India Company Director and collector of the landscape paintings of Richard Wilson (1713/4–1782).

Ford was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Oxford (B.A. 1817). A lifelong Tory, in spite of joining the Whig Brooks's Club, he was a great admirer of the Duke of Wellington. He travelled on the Continent at the close of the Napoleonic Wars visiting France, Germany, Austria and Italy between 1815 and the late 1820s, latterly with his first wife, Harriet Capel, whom he married in 1824. She was a daughter of the George Capel-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex, who had been a close friend of his father. Ford entered Lincoln's Inn in 1819 and was called to the Bar in 1822, but never practised. His real interest lay in the fine arts where he collected old master prints, particularly those of Parmigianino and Andrea Meldolla (Schiavone). In 1822 and 1824 he issued his own etchings after these two masters. Between 1825 and 1832 the Fords has six children, the three youngest dying in infancy. By 1830 Mrs. Ford's health was causing concern and it was decided to visit the warmer climate of Spain. Their stay lasted from October 1830 to October 1833, Seville being their base, except for the summers of 1831 and 1833, which they spent in the Alhambra at Granada where the climate was cooler.