Richard Welford (1836–1919) was a British journalist, biographer, local historian, businessman and politician associated with Newcastle upon Tyne in the 19th century. He was the author of a number of well-known works of history of the area and of its leading citizens.
Richard Welford was born in Holloway, London in 1836. He worked in Aylesbury as a reporter for the Bucks Advertiser, before moving to Newcastle in 1854 to work for the Newcastle Chronicle. He was appointed its sub-editor in 1858, a position he held for three years before resigning in 1861 to become a freelance writer. In concert with his writing, he took up, by 1871, a position as secretary of a local shipping company, rising to become managing director of the Tyne Steam Shipping Company. He was active in local politics, serving on the South Gosforth Local Board and acting as a magistrate.[1]
Welford acted as president of the short-lived Northumbrian Small Pipes Society from 1893 to 1900. He inherited J. W. Fenwick's library of documents and manuscript music for the Northumbrian smallpipes upon Fenwick's death in 1907.[2]
The Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company named a passenger cargo ship commissioned by them from Palmers' Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd and launched 6 November 1907, completed February 1908 as Richard Welford.[3]
Welford died in 1919. A bust of Welford is displayed in the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne.[4]
He was the author of: