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Richard Hornsby (Elsham in Lincolnshire 4 June 1790 – 6 January 1864) was an inventor and founder of a major agricultural machinery firm that developed steam engines. His firm also developed early diesel engine and caterpillar tracks. He came from a farming family, the son of William Hornsby and his wife Sarah.
After Hornsby's death, his firm built the first working (experimental) diesel engine in 1892; it went on to develop the continuous track for agricultural usage in 1905, which revolutionized land warfare.
He died on 6 January 1864. His wife, Mary, died on 15 October 1866, aged 66. At the time of his death he had eight grandchildren. Two of his great-grand children would go to Eton College. Although there is no monument to Richard Hornsby, one of his great-grandsons, Richard William Hornsby, is listed on the war memorial in Barrowby, after being killed in the First World War in Greece. His family were quite wealthy, owning of land, as the Hornsby company was a world leader in engine manufacture, until 1918.
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