Sir Richard Ford

Richard Ford (1796–1858) was an English travel writer, art critic, and illustrator best remembered for A Handbook for Travellers in Spain. He was born in London, educated at Trinity College, Oxford, and trained for the law, though writing and travel became the work he is known for.

In 1830 he moved with his family to Spain and spent several years traveling widely through the country, filling notebooks with observations and making many drawings. Those experiences fed into his writings for the Quarterly Review and, above all, his Spain handbook, which won a reputation for being unusually vivid, opinionated, and well informed.

Ford was the eldest son of Sir Richard Ford, who died in 1806 and served as a Member of Parliament as well as chief police magistrate in London. Later in life, the younger Ford lived at Heavitree near Exeter, where he continued to write and work on the subjects of Spanish art, culture, and travel.