“Edward Richardson

According to Roscoe, Hardy and Sullivan “Edward Richardson was a sculptor and archaeologist who specialised in the restoration of medieval tombs. He is thought to have been born in London but nothing is known of his parents and early life. In 1832 he entered the Royal Academy Schools on the recommendation of Sir Francis Chantrey.... Richardson developed an extensive practice as a sculptor of funerary monuments, executing a large number of military memorials. In 1848 he carved two for Canterbury Cathedral, commemorating the officers and men of the 16th Lancers and the 31st Regiment, killed during the First Sikh War. Though the Builder [magazine] considered them ‘ably executed’ it nevertheless felt ‘bound to say the designs ought, in our opinion, to have been very different in character for the proposed situation.’ His monument to Major-General Sir Robert Dick, who died during the same conflict, has a relief portrait of the General in the uniform of the 42nd Royal Highlanders, with a Sikh shield and helmet at his feet. The Gentleman’s Magazine thought it ‘in one sense but a costume figure’ but noted that it was treated ‘with a chaste and classic feeling’ and that the overall effect was ‘pleasing and picturesque.” It appears that the authors were describing the memorial in Madras (or possibly a similar one at Dunkeld Abbey). — Tim Willasey-Wilsey

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In a number of important sources, Edward Richardson is referred to as "Edward M. Richardson" but that is not how he gave his name in his own written works, and that is not how it appears in his original entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, or in the notices of his death in newspapers. There might be some confusion with the artist Edward Martindale Richardson, b. 1810. — JB

Edward Richardson

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Further reading