Dr Nick Harlow writes, Richard Purdey was born in 1942, the son of former Master, ‘Jok’ Purdey. After his parents divorced, he spent his early life in Eastbourne, before being educated at Shrewsbury. Although initially interested in going to the Royal Agricultural College to study Agriculture, his father instead arranged with Richard Beaumont that he join his family’s eponymous firm as an intern in the ‘front shop’ of Audley House in January 1960. His time was cut short there when he was asked to take guns to the company’s factory late one evening. As this would have meant he missed the chance to go rowing, he remonstrated with the Shop Manager. While the latter took it in good humour, the incident was reported to Richard Beaumont, who was forced to sack Richard the following morning.
He was not unemployed for long, getting a job with a Lloyd’s aviation insurance broker. Over the next few years he moved through a wide variety of jobs, including both sales and PR, before going to work in the marketing department of his step-father’s firm, Merrydown Cider, in 1965. It was through his job that he met his wife, Margaretha, during a trade exhibition in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1967. They married the following year, and were blessed with two daughters, Annika and Kristina.
Richard rose through the ranks at Merrydown, becoming CEO in 1982 and finally Chairman. He remained there until 1998, when he stepped down after 33 years with the company. In the meantime, he had received a call in late 1995 from a member of the Richemont board, which had recently acquired Purdey, inviting him to join the company’s board of directors as Non-Executive Chairman. Richard happily agreed, becoming the first Purdey to be involved directly in the business since Tom Purdey, his great-uncle, had died in 1957.
His time at Purdey was one of modernisation, but always with an eye to preserving and enhancing the traditional craftsmanship on which the company was built. He was responsible for starting the Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation, which recently celebrated its 25 th
anniversary. At the same time, Richard also followed his forebears into the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, being clothed as a Liveryman in 1998. Together with Past Master Stewart Urry, they set up bursaries to support apprentices, work continued by the Gunmaker’s Charitable Trust today. In 2008 he was clothed as Master, the eighth member of his family to serve in that role.
A remarkable character and brilliant raconteur, Richard’s humour and approachability meant that he was universally liked. Unfortunately, his illness meant that he had withdrawn from public events in recent years, being succeeded on the Purdey board by his eldest daughter, Annika. His memorial service was held last Thursday 15 May at All Saints Church, Waldron, where the Company was represented by both the current Master and several Past Masters, the Clerk, Archivist, and several liverymen. As his son-in-law read, and all agreed, Richard was a ‘True Gentleman,’ who will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
