Albert Richards

Albert Richards (19 December 1919 – 5 March 1945) was a British war artist. Born in 1919 to a World War I veteran, he enlisted as a sapper in 1940. He later served in the British Army during World War II, both as a paratrooper and as a war artist. He was the youngest of the three British official war artists killed during the conflict.

Early life

France- the Beach Head, 1944; the road between St Aubin and Benouville.. Richards was born in Liverpool, the son of Hannah Beatty and George Richards, a World War I veteran and wood machinist.

During that period he was assigned to duties such as building barrack huts and defence works throughout England and he frequently painted scenes showing these tasks. He submitted several of these paintings to the War Artists' Advisory Committee, which, impressed with their freshness and quality, began in May 1941, to purchase his artwork.

1943–45 In 1943, Richards volunteered for parachute duties and he underwent training at the No.1 Parachute Training School at RAF Ringway, near Manchester, He depicted this training in several paintings such as Kilkenny's Circus and Parachute Training over Tatton Park. In September 1943 Richards was offered a three-month contract by WAAC but declined to accept due to his other commitments; in December 1943 he accepted his first six-month WAAC commission.

In March 1944, he was granted an honorary commission with the rank of Captain. After Le Plein had been secured, Richards continued with the advancing Allied forces through France and, after a brief period of leave in England, on into the Low Countries.