Horwood, Richard

Richard Horwood (1757/8-1803) was a surveyor and cartographer. He is remembered for his large-scale plan of London and its suburbs published in 32 sheets between 1792 and 1799; he also published a plan of Liverpool in six sheets in 1803.  His "Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster the Borough of Southwark and Parts adjoining Shewing every House" was at the time the largest map ever printed in Britain; it took almost ten years to complete, and is regarded as one of the finest 18th century maps of London. Despite acquiring royal patronage from King George III, the enormous cost of the project required Horwood to obtain a loan from the Phoenix Fire Office, a London fire insurance company, to whom the map is dedicated; however Horwood died in poverty just four years after the last sheet was completed. The plates of his London map passed to the cartographer and a publisher William Faden, who published three further updated and extended editions of the map, under Horwood's name and still fundamentally his work, in 1807, 1813 and 1819.