Richard Champion 1743-91

He was born into an influential Bristol family on 6th November 1743.  A distant relative, William Champion, invented a new method of smelting zinc.  William's grandfather was Richard's great-grandfather.  Little is known of Richard's early life.  He was educated in London between 1751-62, and on his return to Bristol resided with his uncle.  He married Judith Lloyd (against his fathers wishes), a friend of his sister Sarah, in Edinburgh, on 25th March 1764.  A second marriage ceremony took place in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, on 19th November 1764.  They resided at Winterbourne during the first year of their marriage.  In 1764 he also met he met the fellow quaker William Cookworthy.  He was treasurer of the infirmary from 1768-79, a position which other family members had occupied from 1740-65.  By 1765 he lived in James Square in Bristol, but by 1772 he had moved to a house in Henbury (he had an insurance policy on this house and wrote at least one letter from it). Richard became a merchant, trading with America and the West Indies (he was not involved with the slave trade), joining the Society of Merchants in 1766, and becoming a warden of the society in 1772.  He had become a burgess on 20th April 1765.  A partnership with Brice and Harford was dissolved in 1769 and presumably after that he traded alone.  By 1775 he probably owned at least six ships.  One of these, the Lloyd, was sometimes commanded by Nicholas Pocock, who became a well known marine astist (an illustrated log book of two voyages survives).  Richard was influential in politics, helping secure the election of  the Bristol MP Edmund Burke in 1774.  Like Burke, he became an opponent of the American war.  The election resulted in a petition to parliament and on 16th February 1775 Champion gave the following evidence to parliament:  "Mr Burke came to Bristol the 6th day of the poll.  He had not intended to be put in nomination till Lord Clare declined.  If his lordship had stood I should have not proposed Mr Burke.  I had wrote to Mr Burke and sent a messenger on the Monday previous to the poll, which brought him to Bath, when I met him. - On Cruger's friends determining they did not approve of Mr Burke's nomination I was dropt.  Mr Peach came and lamented the measure.  When I informed Lord Clare had declined, I went to town and nominated Mr Burke.  Most of Mr Cruger's friends voted for Mr Burke." Champion was aware of porcelain experiments, at Bristol, which had ended by December 1765.  His brother-in-law Caleb Lloyd sent clay, from South Carolina, which was used experimentally.  Cookworthy also supplied Cornish materials to the Bristol venture (for 30 pounds), but had no other interest.  This venture led to nothing, due to discoloring on firing (Cookworthy would have similar problems). The experiments cost some 600 pounds. In 1768 he invested in Cookworthy's Plymouth china venture, with borrowed money.  After the works transferred to Bristol, in 1770, he had some involvement, but it would be wrong to call him the manager, a post held by John Britain.  The first apprentices, in 1772, were assigned to Richard and Judith Champion.  Cookworthy transferred the patent to him in September 1773, although the deed was not executed until May 1774, leaving Champion as the proprietor.  This agreement, however, left Champion tied to a 99 year lease for the raw materials at twice their true cost, although these costs were only a small part of manufacture. By 1778 Champion's capital was exhausted, although he was never made bankrupt, but on 4th August his business was placed in the hand of administrators (there were 91 creditors).  Money was being recovered from his descendants as late as 1821.  This was almost certainly due to the effect the American War had on his transatlantic trade rather than the porcelain factory, which he claimed was profitable.   In 1775 most American colonies banned British imports and later an American privateer captured one of his ships.  Presumably the administrators were responsible for forcing him to sell the patent. He left Bristol on 5th November 1781 to reside at Merril Street, Newcastle, Staffordshire.  On the 18th March 1782 he had an insurance policy with the Salop Fire Office for 1000 pounds, this included 400 pounds for cobalt and 100 pounds for a laboratory.  The laboratory would suggest that he was experimenting with porcelain manufacture, so perhaps Wedgwood's comments that he had little knowledge of the materials may not have been true.  With surprising help from Josiah Wedgwood, the New Hall porcelain factory was started, although Wedgwood was not one of the investors, with Champion acting as manager.  New Hall porcelain is not true hard paste, but of a hybrid type, cheaper to produce.  The presence of the laboratory suggests that Champion may have been the inventor of hybrid hard paste.  The New Hall investors purchased the patent, which gave them protection until 1796.  By the late 1790s other potters, such as Coalport, began making hybrid hard paste.  About 1800 Josiah Spode developed an improved hybrid incorporating bone ash, this is "Bone China" and was soon produced by all British porcelain makers. Champion left Staffordshire on 8th April 1782.  The prime minister's (Lord Rockingham) patronage led him to become deputy paymaster general of the forces.  Following the fall of the government in 1784 Champion sailed for America, settling in Camden, South Carolina, where he had a plantation.  He died on 7th October 1791, his wife having passed away in the previous year.  He would later write of his sailing from England:  "The last sight of the British shore sank deep into my heart, and left an impression which will not easliy be erased.  The evening we parted from it was serene, and the sun dipped his beams to the westward in a calm and unruffled ocean.  The Lizard point was in view".