Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/217

 [q. v.] presided, and, as a result, the war office issued, on 12 May 1859, a circular which authorised the enrolling all over the United Kingdom of rifle volunteers. On the publication of that circular, Richards hired rooms in the city of London, and enlisted one thousand working-men volunteers, who were formed into the 3rd city of London rifle corps. Of this corps Richards was at once appointed major, and soon afterwards colonel. He held his commission until 1869, when a testimonial was presented to him in recognition of his efforts. The poet laureate, Alfred (afterwards lord) Tennyson, wrote to Richards: ‘I most heartily congratulate you on your having been able to do so much for your country, and I hope you will not rest from your labours until it is the law of the land that every man-child born in it shall be trained to the use of arms.’ The rifle-volunteer movement grew rapidly, and in November 1895 no fewer than 231,704 volunteers were enrolled.

In 1869 Richards published ‘Medea,’ a poetic rhapsody on the well-known picture by Frederick Sandys, R.A.; a photograph of the painting formed the frontispiece to the volume. In 1870 Richards was appointed editor of the ‘Morning Advertiser,’ in succession to James Grant, and held that position until his death. In 1871 his only novel, ‘So very Human,’ was published, its title having been suggested by a chance phrase from the lips of Charles Dickens. He died on 12 June 1876, in his fifty-seventh year, at 22 Brunswick Square, London, and was buried in St. Peter's churchyard, Croydon. Besides the five dramas enumerated, Richards produced four others. One of these, his tragedy of ‘Norma,’ founded upon the libretto of Bellini's opera, was performed for the first time on 5 Feb. 1875 at Belfast, Miss Wallis impersonating the title rôle. His other dramatic works, which were not published, were ‘The Prisoner of Toulon,’ ‘King Pym, or the Great Rebellion,’ and ‘Love and Patience.’

[Personal recollections; Payne's Proofs of A. B. Richards's Claim to be Chief Promoter of the Volunteer Movement of 1859; Westminster School Register, 1764–1883; Morning Advertiser, 14 and 15 June 1876; Athenæum, 1876, i. 832.]  RICHARDS, DAVID (1751–1827), Welsh poet, best known as ‘Dafydd Ionawr,’ son of John and Anne Richards, was born at Glanymorfa, Towyn, on 22 Jan. 1751. His father, who owned a small estate, neglected his education, and it was not until he was about eighteen that he entered Edward Richard's school at Ystrad Meurig with a view to preparation for orders. There he made rapid progress, not only in his school studies, but also in the writing of ‘strict’ Welsh verse, an art he had learnt from Evan Evans (‘Ieuan Brydydd Hir’), for a time curate of Towyn. After a year his father refused him further help, and he took a situation as usher to C. A. Tisdaile of Wrexham grammar school. It was now he made his first appearance in Welsh literature, contributing to the ‘Eurgrawn,’ the first Welsh magazine. On 16 May 1774 he matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford, but found university life so uncongenial that in a few months he again became usher to Tisdaile, now head master of Oswestry grammar school; some years afterwards he became assistant to W. H. Barker, head master of Carmarthen. At Carmarthen he experienced a double disappointment: he competed unsuccessfully in 1779 for the prize offered by the Cymrodorion Society for the best elegy upon Richard Morris (d. 1779) [q. v.], and not long afterwards Bishop Watson declined to ordain him to the curacy of Llandough. He resolved never again to enter a competition or seek orders. In 1790 he returned to Towyn to take charge of the free school, but after two years' labour abandoned teaching that he might carry out more effectually what he conceived to be the true mission of his life, that of the religious poet. His ‘Cywydd y Drindod’ (‘Ode to the Trinity’) had been in preparation for twenty years; in 1793 it appeared, a poem of over thirteen thousand lines, at Wrexham, Richards having mortgaged his interest in the family estate in order to defray the cost of printing. The work was not popular, and two-thirds of the issue remained unsold. In 1794 he moved to Dolgelly, and four years later, on the death of his father, gave still further proof of his devotion to the life of the poet and the recluse by making over his inheritance to his friend, Thomas Jones of Dolgelly, on condition of receiving maintenance for the rest of his life. From 1800 to 1807 he took charge of the free school at Dolgelly; but devoted his closing years entirely to the writing of Welsh religious verse, living with Thomas Jones until his death on 11 May 1827. He was buried in Dolgelly cemetery.

‘My motive to write,’ says Richards in his preface to ‘Cywydd y Drindod,’ ‘was a very strong impression made upon my mind very early in life, which would not suffer my thoughts to rest, and which I regarded as a call from heaven.’ His power as a poet, though considerable, was hardly on a level with his loftiness of purpose, and his works have exercised little influence. 