Frederick Richards

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick William Richards, (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 South 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. He was promoted to acting mate in the sloop HMS Fantome on the Australia Station on 8 January 1854. 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. He was appointed Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen on 15 June 1879 and a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 27 November 1879. 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.

China Station and the Admiralty

After promotion to rear-admiral on 9 June 1882, 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.

First Naval Lord Promoted to vice admiral on 25 October 1888, Richards became Commander-in-Chief, China Station in November 1890 and Second Naval Lord in June 1892. and became First Naval Lord in November 1893.

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. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 29 November 1898 and served as First Naval Lord until August 1899 when he retired. He died at his home, Horton Court at Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire, on 28 September 1912.

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