John Richardson (cricketer, born 1856)

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John Richardson (March 17, 1856 — February 19, 1940) was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler who played for Derbyshire between 1878 and 1883. He was born in Duckmanton and died in Brimington.

Richardson's first-class career began in a game against the All-England Eleven, a match in which he took two wickets for the team with the ball, though his batting contribution, being caught for a duck in the first innings and finishing not-out for 0 in the second, was minimal. It wasn't until four years later that Richardson would play his first County match, against Lancashire, in which he was given a small opportunity to shine with the ball, though these would become more and more frequent as the year went on, once Derbyshire had dispensed with the idea of using just two bowlers, most frequently William Mycroft and, at the time, John Platts, during any and all games which came the team's way.

Richardson played his final game of the 1882 season against Yorkshire, in which he would take his best bowling analysis of 7-76, the only occasion which he made more than five wickets in a single innings for the team. Richardson started 1883 unpromisingly with the bat, scoring a pair in his first County match of 1883, and, in his final first-class game, which came in an innings defeat at the hands of Yorkshire just six weeks later, Derbyshire suffered an innings defeat and Richardson left the team.