Richards of Aberdeen

The company that became Richards had its origins in the early 19th century. It was founded by John Maberly. He brought in new finance with John Baker Richards as a partner, in 1825, trading as Maberly & Co. James William Freshfield and Robert Langford became involved as property trustees, in 1829.{{cite book |last1=Simons |first1=Nicholas |title=Reports of Cases Decided in the High Court of Chancery: With Notes and References to Both English and American Decisions |date=1845 |publisher=Gould, Banks & Company |pages=351–360 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y18wAAAAIAAJ&pg=PT203 |language=en}}

Maberly during the 1820s introduced steam power in the linen factories; but ran into trouble in financial operations.{{cite web |title=Maberly, John (d.c.1840), of Shirley House, Croydon, Surr., History of Parliament Online |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/maberly-john-1840 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}} He was in the end bankrupted by 1832. Others brought into the firm included William Leader (died 1828), to whose son John Temple Leader debts owed by Maberly passed. The name of the firm became Richards & Co. from 1831, and that year Lancelot Holland became involved.

Henry Lancelot Holland (1808–1893) joined Richards & Co. in 1837.{{cite news |title=Death of Mr H. L. Holland of Broadford Works |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000444/18930126/027/0003 |work=Aberdeen Evening Express|page=3 |date=26 January 1893 |ref=Aberdeen}} He became one of the partners, with his father Lancelot Holland, John Temple Leader, George Edwards and others.{{cite web |title=Details of Firm, Richards & Co., Legacies of British Slavery |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/firm/view/2144929037 |website=www.ucl.ac.uk}} He was later head of the company.

At its height, Richard had its Broadford Works in Aberdeen; also spinning and power looms at Montrose, and bleachfields at Rubislaw and Craigo.{{cite news |title=Death of an Aberdeen Mill-Spinner |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000453/18930127/033/0002 |work=Dundee Evening Telegraph|page=2 |date=27 January 1893}} Broadford Works was the oldest iron-frame mill in Scotland, and in the end the last remaining textile mill in Aberdeen. It was also one of the principal employers there with more than 3,000 people working in the mill in the early 20th century.

Richards of Aberdeen became a public limited company in 1898. With the decline in traditional flax spinning activities, in the mid-1960s the company embarked upon a programme of development of synthetic yarn ranges which it maintained with few changes until the 21st century.

File:Broadford Works, Twin Towers. - geograph.org.uk - 214790.jpg

Richards was purchased in 2002 by Ian Suttie, chief executive of First Oil, while facing receivership. In 2003 the company moved its headquarters to the outskirts of Aberdeen, with assistance from Aberdeen City Council.

Fifty-two job losses were announced at the start of November 2004, despite the employment of 80 new staff in May of that year.{{cite web| url=http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/richards.htm| title=Richards| publisher=UK Business Park| accessdate=9 October 2009| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922054600/http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/richards.htm| archivedate=22 September 2010| df=dmy-all}} Soon the entire remaining workforce of 196 was made redundant. Many had been at the mill for their entire working lives. Workers were angered not only by news of the closure itself but by the way they discovered what had happened: payments simply stopped arriving in their bank accounts. Another indicator came when supplies ceased to arrive at the site. Aside from global economic conditions, one of the main factors causing the closure was the company pension scheme which by November 2004 faced a shortfall of £5m.{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4022695.stm| title=Jobs go at Aberdeen textile firm| date=18 November 2004| publisher=BBC News| accessdate=9 October 2009}}

The pension scheme continues to cause problems for the mill's former employees and there are calls to wind up the plan as soon as possible.{{cite news|url=http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1245487 |title=Former Richards pensioners to join demonstration |date=3 June 2009 |publisher=The Press and Journal |accessdate=9 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306040600/http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1245487 |archivedate=6 March 2012 }}

The mill is currently under consideration for possible conversion into an 'urban village' of 398 homes, many of which would be in historical listed buildings which require careful planning considerations before any work can commence.{{cite web |title=New look inside the Broadford Works site |url=https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/pictures-new-look-inside-broadford-works-site/ |website=eveningexpress.co.uk |accessdate=22 November 2019}}

File:Decay.jpg|Richards mill, in March 2006

File:Hose Drying Tower.jpg|The mill and its famous hose tower, one year after closure

File:Main Entrance.jpg|The main mill entrance in late 2006

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Category:Companies based in Aberdeen