Robert Ransome

Robert Ransome (1753 – 7 March 1830) was an English maker of agricultural implements. He founded the company later known as Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies.

Early life and career Robert Ransome was born in Wells, Norfolk, son of Richard Ransome, a schoolmaster. 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.

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. He possessed inventive skill, and in 1783 took out a patent for cast iron roofing plates, and published Directions for Laying Ransome's Patent Cast-iron Coverings in 1784. On 18 March 1785 he took out a patent for tempering cast iron ploughshares by wetting the mould with salt water. The later years of his life were spent in Woodbridge, Suffolk, where he died on 7 March 1830.

His grandson James Allen Ransome (son of James Ransome) was a notable partner of the family business, and an agricultural writer.