Frederick Richards

Sir Frederick Richards
Admiral Sir Frederick Richards
Born	(1833-11-30)30 November 1833 Ballyhally, County Wexford, Ireland
Died	28 September 1912(1912-09-28) (aged 78) Horton Court, Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1848 - 1899
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held	HMS Vixen HMS Dart HMS Jumna HMS Devastation Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station East Indies Station China Station
Battles/wars	Second Opium War Anglo–Zulu War First Boer War Third Anglo-Burmese War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick William Richards, GCB (30 November 1833 – 28 September 1912) was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded a paddle-sloop during the Second Opium War in 1860 and, as senior officer on the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station, he landed on the coast of East Africa with a small naval brigade which he led at the Battle of Gingindlovu and the Siege of Eshowe in April 1879 during the Anglo–Zulu War. He took part in the Battle of Laing's Nek in January 1881 during the First Boer War and, as Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station, he organized and equipped a naval brigade to support the British advance up the Irrawaddy River in November 1885 during the Third Anglo-Burmese War. He went on to be First Naval Lord and in that role led a huge shipbuilding and naval works programme undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Naval Defence Act 1889. The programme was opposed by Prime Minister William Gladstone who was concerned about its vast cost and who resigned after a Cabinet defeat over it in March 1894. The programme continued under the Governments of Lord Rosebery and then Lord Salisbury and Richards remained in office driving the programme throughout the political turmoil.

Early life

Born the second son of Captain Edwin Richards RN, of Solsboro, County Wexford and Mary Anne Richards (née Kirwan), daughter of the Revd Walter Blake Kirwan, dean of Killala, Richards was educated at the Royal Naval School, New Cross and entered the Royal Navy as a naval cadet in 1848.^[1] He was promoted to acting mate in the sloop HMS Fantome on the Australia Station on 8 January 1854.^[1] Promoted to lieutenant on 31 October 1855, he joined the second-rate HMS Ganges, flagship on the Pacific Station, in 1857.^[1] He became flag-lieutenant to the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station in April 1859 and was given command of the paddle-sloop HMS Vixen on the China Station during the Second Opium War in February 1860.^[1] He was given command of the gunboat HMS Dart in the West Africa Squadron in March 1862.^[1]

Posting in Africa

Promoted to captain on 6 February 1866,^[2] Richards was given command of the Indian troopship HMS Jumna in 1870 and then took charge of HMS Devastation, the first steam turret battleship without no sail power, in June 1873.^[1] He took the Devastation to join the Mediterranean Fleet in 1874 and became Commodore and senior officer on the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station with his broad pendant in the corvette HMS Boadicea in October 1878.^[1] When he arrived at the Cape the Anglo–Zulu War was underway and the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana had just happened: Richards proceeded up the east coast of Africa and landed with a small naval brigade which he led at the Battle of Gingindlovu and the Siege of Eshowe in April 1879.^[3] He was appointed Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen on 15 June 1879^[4] and a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 27 November 1879.^[5] He also took part in the Battle of Laing's Nek in January 1881 during the First Boer War and was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 24 May 1881.^[6]

China Station and the Admiralty

After promotion to rear-admiral on 9 June 1882,^[7] Richards was appointed Junior Naval Lord in July 1882 and then Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station, hoisting his flag in the corvette HMS Bacchante, in May 1885.^[3] In that role he organized and equipped a naval brigade to support the British advance up the Irrawaddy River in November 1885 during the Third Anglo-Burmese War.^[3] On his return to England in June 1888, together with two other admirals, he was asked to investigate the disposition of the ships of the Royal Navy many of which were unarmoured and together incapable of meeting the combined threat from any two of the other naval powers ("the Two-power Standard") and to prepare the report which ultimately led to the Naval Defence Act 1889.^[3] He was also a member of a Royal Commission formed to look into Naval and Military administration.^[8]

First Naval Lord

Promoted to vice admiral on 25 October 1888,^[9] Richards became Commander-in-Chief, China Station in November 1890 and Second Naval Lord in June 1892.^[3] He was promoted to full admiral on 1 September 1893^[10] and became First Naval Lord in November 1893.^[3] In that role Richards led a huge shipbuilding and naval works programme undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Naval Defence Act 1889.^[3] The programme was opposed by Prime Minister William Gladstone who was concerned about its vast cost and who resigned after a Cabinet defeat over it in March 1894.^[3] The programme continued under the Government of Lord Rosebery and then under the Government of Lord Salisbury and Richards remained in office driving the programme throughout the political turmoil.^[3] He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in June 1895.^[11]

Richards also had to respond as First Naval Lord to the Far Eastern Crisis of 1897/98 when the Russian Pacific Fleet was threatening to attack the Korean port of Chemulpo to back up Russia’s demands for a peacetime coaling station at Deer Island.^[12] He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 29 November 1898^[13] and served as First Naval Lord until August 1899 when he retired.^[14] He died at his home, Horton Court at Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire, on 28 September 1912.^[14]

Family

In 1866 Richards married Lucy Fayle, daughter of Fitzherbert Brooke, of Horton Court, Gloucestershire; they had no children.^[1]

References

Sources

• Heathcote, Tony (2002). The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 - 1995. Pen & Sword Ltd. ISBN 0-85052-835-6. 
• William Loney RN Career History

v t e First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy First Naval Lords (1828–1904) Sir George Cockburn Sir Thomas Hardy The Hon. George Dundas Charles Adam Sir George Cockburn Sir Charles Adam Sir George Cockburn Sir William Parker Sir Charles Adam Sir James Dundas The Hon. Maurice Berkeley Hyde Parker The Hon. Maurice Berkeley The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas William Martin The Hon. Sir Richard Dundas The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey Sir Alexander Milne Sir Sydney Dacres Sir Alexander Milne Sir Hastings Yelverton Sir George Wellesley Sir Astley Key Sir Arthur Hood Lord John Hay Sir Arthur Hood Sir Richard Hamilton Sir Anthony Hoskins Sir Frederick Richards Lord Walter Kerr First Sea Lords (1904–present) Sir John Fisher Sir Arthur Wilson Sir Francis Bridgeman Prince Louis of Battenberg The Lord Fisher Sir Henry Jackson Sir John Jellicoe Sir Rosslyn Wemyss The Earl Beatty Sir Charles Madden, Bt Sir Frederick Field The Lord Chatfield Sir Roger Backhouse Sir Dudley Pound The Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope Sir John Cunningham The Lord Fraser of North Cape Sir Rhoderick McGrigor The Earl Mountbatten of Burma Sir Charles Lambe Sir Caspar John Sir David Luce Sir Varyl Begg Sir Michael Le Fanu Sir Peter Hill-Norton Sir Michael Pollock Sir Edward Ashmore Sir Terence Lewin Sir Henry Leach Sir John Fieldhouse Sir William Staveley Sir Julian Oswald Sir Benjamin Bathurst Sir Jock Slater Sir Michael Boyce Sir Nigel Essenhigh Sir Alan West Sir Jonathon Band Sir Mark Stanhope Sir George Zambellas