Richard Rathbone (2 December 1788 – 10 November 1860) was a merchant and member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool in England.

Life

Rathbone was the second son of William Rathbone IV. Richard was a commission merchant, setting up in partnership with his brother, William Rathbone V in 1809. On 8 April 1817 Rathbone married his half-cousin, the illustrator and writer, Hannah Mary (5 July 1798 – 26 March 1878), daughter of Joseph Reynolds of Ketley, Shropshire, and granddaughter of Richard Reynolds. Richard devoted a lot of his time to the family business, which concerned his wife. He retired in 1835. As a committed opponent of the slave trade, he published in 1836 Letter to the President of the Liverpool Anti-Slavery Society. Rathbone attended the 1840 anti-slavery convention in London and was included in the painting which is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Rathbone and his wife had six children: