Birth Registered:              
Names Registered:             
Father's Name:                   
Father's Address: 
                
Father's Occupation :

Mother's Name :     

At Leek, Staffordshire 16th February 1797
Richard Badnall
Richard Badnall of Leek
Spout Street, Leek in 1797.Highfield, Leek Staffordshire (1812 to 1827) 

Silk ribbon & button manufacturer ( Fynney and Badnall) Leek, Staffordshire.

Harriet Hopkins daughter of the Revd. John William Hopkins, Rector of Upminster,  Essex  and   a descendant of William of Wykeham.

Wife' Name:                       
Children’s Names:  

Grandchildren :   

Sarah Hand daughter of Enoch Hand of Uttoxeter
Richard (III) ; Hopkins; William Beaumont; Edward Wykeham; Charles Fiennes; Harriet Hopkins;
See Charts.                

Date of Death:                    
Age at Death :                     
Place of Death:                   
Probate Granted:                
Place of Burial:                   

2nd August 1839
42 years 167 days
Weston near Bath.

Family vault St. Edward's Parish Church, Leek, Staffs

Details of  Career
Educated Ashbourne Grammar School and Chaddesley, Worcestershire. Probably spoke French and had a knowledge of other languages.
Author of a number of works including:
The Pirate a poem in three cantos and miscellaneous poems, 1816;
Zelinda; a Persian tale. In three cantos;
A View of the Silk Trade, London 1828;
Letter to the Lords and Commons on the Present Commercial and Agricultural Condition of Great Britain. 1830;
A Treatise on Railway Improvement London 1833.

Business.
Partner in the Leek silk firms of Badnall, Badnall, Gaunt and Morley 1822; Badnall, Badnall & Gaunt 1824. Formed his own partnership with Francis Gybbon Spilsbury and Henry Cruso, silk manufacturers, machinery manufacturers, dyers and tanners, in 1824.  He and his partner Spilsbury, were the initiators ( subsequently directors of ) the British, Irish and Colonial Silk Company a chartered company with a capital of £1,000,000 in 1825.  They also founded the Leek Bank of Badnall and Ellis.  Took out several patents for improvements in silk machinery and silk dyeing. He and his partners went bankrupt in 1826/7. Silk broker and merchant in Liverpool 1829/30.  Entered into partnership with Robert Stephenson of Pendleton Colliery the brother of George Stephenson, in October 1832,to exploit his (Richard Badnall’s) patented “Undulating Railway” system.  

Other Activities 

Stood unsuccessfully against Baring and Attwood in the 1826 Parliamentary Election, for Callington, Cornwall. This defeat did not, apparently, deter him from seeking parliamentary office for a second time in 1837,  when, despite being in very bad health, he stood as the Liberal candidate in the Parliamentary elections for Newcastle-under-Lyme.  Subsequently he claimed that corrupt practices had been used by his opponents and a parliamentary enquiry was held.  However, although the Committee confirmed Badnall's claims, the results were allowed to stand, possibly because some of Badnall's witnesses had perjured themselves when they appeared before the committee.

Family Connections.
His father, Richard of Highfield, was the great grandson of Christopher Badnall, a sharman of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire and his wife Sarah Wheilden.  Christopher Badnall was the youngest son, of William Badnall of Hanbury and Uttoxeter and (probably) grandson of Thomas Badnall and Clare Broughton of Walford, Standon in Staffordshire.  Thus Richard Badnall of Ashenhurst, Leek is probably descended from Robert de Badenhall of Baden Hall, Eccleshall, Staffordshire (1228) and connected therefore not only to the Badnalls of Canada, Australia and South Africa but also to Bednalls of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and elsewhere.