[6] In 1844, based on an advertisement in the 17 January 1844 Chronicle & Gazette, he and "Little" started their own merchant tailor's business on Princess Street in Kingston.
The advertisement indicated that their specialties included "broad cloths, plain and figured beavers, cassimeres, doe skine [sic], tweeds, fancy and clan tartans, and an assortment of vestings".
And those cloths were promised to be "made to order in the latest and most approved fashionable styles, on moderate terms, and at the shortest possible notice".
[9] In the 1873–74 Kingston Directory, the business was referred to as "Richardson & Sons, Grain Dealers, Commercial Wharf, Foot of Princess St.".
As early as 1855, Richardson had been shipping grain to Liverpool to help feed British troops during the Crimean War.
His firm took an interest in the promising mining operations north of Kingston in the area of Canada known as the Canadian Shield.
"[4] James' son, Henry Westman Richardson, became a Canadian Senator for the Kingston Senatorial Division and a member of the Standing Committee on Railways, Telegraphs and Harbours.