Richard Garrett founded Richard Garrett & Sons

Richard Garrett & Sons

Richard Garrett & Sons was a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, steam engines and trolleybuses. Their factory was Leiston Works, in Leiston, Suffolk, United Kingdom.The company was active under its original ownership between 1778 and 1932....

, the agricultural machinery manufacturing plant in Leiston

Leiston

Leiston is a town in eastern Suffolk, England. It is situated near Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, about from the North Sea coast and is northeast of Ipswich and northeast from London...

, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, that now houses the Long Shop Museum. The company was the largest employer in Leiston in the nineteenth century.

Firstborn of twelve children in Melton

Melton, Suffolk

Melton is a village in Suffolk, England, located approximately one mile north east of Woodbridge. The 2001 census recorded a population of 3718. The village is served by Melton railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line....

, Suffolk, Garrett married Elizabeth Newson on 1 October 1778 and they had six sons and three daughters. When Elizabeth died in 1794, Garrett married Jemima Cottingham. Elizabeth came from Leiston and the couple settled there upon marriage. He became a bladesmith

Bladesmith

Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, swords, daggers and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking techniques similar to those used by blacksmiths, as well as woodworking for knife and sword handles, and often...

 and gunsmith

Gunsmith

A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds firearms. This occupation is different from an armorer. The armorer primarily maintains weapons and limited repairs involving parts replacement and possibly work involving accurization...

 at a High Street forge rented from William Cracey. He was soon employing eight men and by 1830 the works had 60 employees. His son Richard (the third to bear the name) succeeded him as works manager in 1826 and the fourth Richard transformed it into a nationally significant manufacturer of steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s and traction engine

Traction engine

A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...

s.

Garrett's descendants include Newson Garrett

Newson Garrett

Newson Garrett , was a maltster and brewer instrumental in the revival of the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, of which he became mayor at the end of his life...

, founder of Snape Maltings

Snape Maltings

Snape Maltings is part of Snape, Suffolk, U.K., best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival....

, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, LSA, MD , was an English physician and feminist, the first woman to gain a medical qualification in Britain and the first female mayor in England.-Early life:...

, first female doctor, and Millicent Garrett Fawcett, women's rights activists.