Robert Ransome

His grandfather, Richard Ransome, was a miller of North Walsham, Norfolk, and an early Quaker who suffered frequent imprisonment while on preaching journeys in various parts of England, Ireland, and Holland; he died in Bristol in 1716.

[1] On leaving school Robert was apprenticed to an ironmonger; he later started his own business in Norwich with a small brass-foundry, which afterwards expanded into an iron-foundry near Whitefriars Bridge.

[1] In 1789 Ransome moved to Ipswich and rented premises in St Margaret's Ditches and established a foundry there with a single worker, William Rush.

In this manner the underside of the share was chilled and made harder than steel, while the upper part remained soft and tough.

The upper part wearing away faster than the lower, a sharp cutting edge was thus maintained, and less draught required.