Richard Flower

Background

Richard Flower was born in 1760, in England, presumably in Hertfordshire, the son of a tradesman, George Flower and Martha Fuller.

Career

Flower married a daughter of Edward Fordham of Kelshall near Royston and for more than twenty years was proprietor of a flourishing brewery in Hertford. Like his elder brother, Benjamin Flower, Flower was somewhat of a reformer and took naturally to pamphleteering. When Government paid no heed to his Observations on Beer and Brewers, in Which the Inequality, Injustice, and Impolicy of the Malt and Beer Tax are Demonstrated (Cambridge, 1802), he disposed of his business, invested the proceeds in an estate, "Marden, " three miles from the town, and devoted his time to agriculture and sheep husbandry.

As a dissenter Flower was galled especially by the tithe and published Abolition of Tithe Recommended, in an Address to the Agriculturalists of Great Britain. Extortionate taxes, the mounting poor-rate, and the low price of farm products made matters still worse for him in the years following the Napoleonic wars, and at the persuasion of his friend, Morris Birkbeck, and of his eldest son, George Flower, he sold "Marden" in 1818 for £23, 000 and emigrated with his family to the United States.

The next winter Flower spent in Lexington, Kentucky, while George Flower was laying out the village of Albion in southeastern Illinois. A heavy loss to him was the death, that winter, of his second son William.

In the spring of 1819 Flower moved to Albion and occupied the "Park House, " which his son had built for him. There he entertained visitors from all over the United States and England, regaling them with plum pudding and other English dishes. For some years the house was an object of interest because of its plastered and papered walls, its ornamental stone hearth, and elegant furniture. Flower built a two-story brick tavern and several other buildings, founded what was probably the first library in Illinois, and conducted religious services every Sunday. In the fight to check the introduction of negro slavery, he took a prominent part. By his American neighbours he was respected rather than liked, for they distrusted his dignity and the freedom with which he expressed his opinions.

In 1824 Flower returned to England as agent for George Rapp and negotiated the sale of the village and lands of Harmony, Indiana, to Robert Owen. His youngest son, Edward Fordham Flower went over with him and remained in England. Flower died on Wednesday, September 2, 1829, at Albion, after a protracted illness.

Achievements

• Richard Flower was the proprietor of a flourishing brewery in Hertford, England, for more than twenty years and a reformer and pamphleteer. Also he was an Illinois pioneer, did considerable building in Albion, founded a library, and conducted religious services.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Flower's Letters from Lexington (June 25, 1819) and the Illinois (August 16, 1819)..

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Flower's Letters from the Illinois--January 18, 1820 - May 7, 1821..

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Views

Richard Flower was an active abolitionist.

Connections

Richard Flower married Elizabeth, a daughter of Edward Fordham of Kelshall near Royston. They had three sons and two daughters.

Father:

George Flower

Mother:

Martha Flower (Fuller)

Wife:

Elizabeth Flower (Fordham)

Son:

George Flower

George Flower was an agricultural innovator, Illinois pioneer, and author of numerous publications.

Son:

William Flower

Son:

Edward Fordham Flower

Brother:

Benjamin Flower

Friend:

Morris Birkbeck

Morris Birkbeck was an English social reformer (political, anti-slavery, etc.), author, farmer, agricultural innovator, and early 19th-century pioneer in southern Illinois, in the United States.