William Richardson and his son Joseph were watch manufacturers who lived side by side in adjoining properties in Clarendon Street — at Clarendon House and Westwood House — which had extensive top shops to the rear where they carried out their manufacture.
Father and son were producing complete watches for the market. To help them they employed a small workforce on the premises — at most about five skilled workers and four apprentices — along with an unknown number of out-workers who carried out their portion of the process in their own or a friend’s top shop. This layered system of production, from manufacturer at the top down through masters, craftsmen and apprentices, was typical of the Coventry watch trade at its peak.
William Richardson could hardly have moved into Westwood House when he died aged 67 in 1855, leaving a widow Mary and an unmarried daughter Maria. By the 1880s — the busiest time for the Coventry watch trade — Joseph had continued and expanded the business. By 1881, Joseph had also died and his son Oliver, though only 22 years old, took over, helped no doubt by a loyal and experienced workforce.
The Richardson story illustrates the three-generation arc that characterised many Earlsdon watchmaking families: establishment, flourishing, and then the difficult transition as the trade declined.