Henry Charles Richards

Who is Henry Charles Richards?

Henry Charles Richards was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician.

The son of Frederick Richards, JP, of Ore and St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. He was educated at the City of London School and the Proprietary School, Gravesend. He entered employment as a clerk for the firm of Munt Brown and Co., hat and bonnet makers, in the City of London. After fifteen years he was awarded the Bacon Scholarship to study law at Gray's Inn in 1879. He was called to the bar in 1881. He worked as counsel for the Postmaster-General and for the London County Council. In 1898 he "took silk" to become a Queen's Counsel. From 1882 to 1885 he was one the City's representatives on the London School Board. He was elected a bencher of Gray's Inn and was treasurer in the year before his death.

Active in Conservative politics, he unsuccessfully attempted to win a seat for the party at Northampton in 1885, 1886, 1892. At the 1895 general election he contested the London constituency of Finsbury East. He won the seat, defeating the sitting Liberal member of parliament, James Rowlands.