Sir Richard Tangye

Born in Cornwall in 1833, Richard Trevithick Tangye became a British manufacturer of engines and heavy equipment during the great age of Victorian industry. He was part of the Tangye family business in Birmingham, a company closely associated with lifting gear, hydraulic machinery, and other industrial engineering work.

Beyond business, he wrote several books and kept a lasting connection to Cornwall, the county where he was born. That mix of practical engineering, entrepreneurship, and regional pride helped make him a distinctive public figure of his time.

Tangye was knighted and lived until 1906. Today he is remembered both as a successful industrial leader and as a writer with a strong sense of the history and character of Cornwall.