Richard Ford (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 writer known for his travel books on Spain.

Richard Ford was born in 1796. He was the eldest son of Benjamin Booth's daughter and heiress Marianne, who married Sir Richard Ford, an MP in 1789 and for many years chief police magistrate of London. Ford graduated from Trinity College, Oxford in 1817, and was afterward called to the bar, but never practiced. He spent four years traveling in Spain and in 1845 published his delightful Handbook for Travellers in Spain, in two volumes. A second edition (1847) was in one volume, and the material left out was published in Gatherings from Spain (1846). Ford also contributed important papers on Spanish art to the Quarterly Review and other periodicals. He wrote letterpress for several art works, notably the Tauromachia (1852) of Lake Price.

In 1855 Richard Ford also wrote "Andalucia, Ronda and Granada, Murcia, Valencia, and Catalonia; the portions best suited for the invalid".

In 1824 Richard Ford married Harriet Capel, a daughter of the Earl of Essex, who, as Lord Malden, had been a close friend of his father. Harriet Ford died in 1837, survived by two daughters and a son, those three remaining from the six children of Richard and Harriet. In 1837 Richard became engaged to Eliza Cranstoun, sister of the 10th Lord Cranstoun; the marriage took place on 28 February 1838. The only child of Richard and Eliza was Margaret 'Meta' Ford, who was born in October 1840, married Oswald John Frederick Crawfurd, and died in 1899. Eliza Ford died on 23 January 1849. In the summer of 1851, Richard Ford married his third wife, Mary Ford, née Molesworth, (1816–1910), who was a daughter of Sir Arscott Ourry Molesworth, 7th Baronet (1789–1823). Upon his death in Heavitree on 31 August 1858 from Bright's disease Richard left a fine collection of pictures to his widow Mary. Richard was the father of Sir Francis Clare Ford by his first wife, Harriet.