TOPIC:

www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/gal/vcg...chardson-ahl-eng.asp

The stone, in the grounds of Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, gives him a birth year of 1872, as does Wikipedia(below), but the linked article has it as 1873.

Born in Southport, Lancashire, in 1872, Richardson emigrated to Canada in 1891. After a period as a rancher he joined the North-West Mounted Police in 1894. At the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1900 he joined the newly raised Strathcona's Horse.

Richardson was 27 years old and a sergeant when the deed, for which he was awarded the VC, took place. The commander of his unit, Lieutenant Agar Adamson, reported:
"On the 5th July, 1900, at Wolve Spruit, about 15 miles north of Standerton, a party of Lord Strathcona's Corps, only 38 in number, came into contact, and was engaged at close quarters, with a force of 80 of the enemy. When the order to retire had been given, Sergeant Richardson rode back under a very heavy cross-fire and picked up a trooper whose horse had been shot and who was wounded in two places and rode with him out of fire. At the time when this act of gallantry was performed, Sergeant Richardson was within 300 yards of the enemy, and was himself riding a wounded horse."

Richardson was the first soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross for actions committed while serving with a Canadian unit under British command.

He re-joined the NWMP in 1902 and served until ill health forced him to retire in 1907. After his wife's death in 1916, Richardson returned to Liverpool and died there in 1932.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at The Military Museums in Calgary, Alberta.

Hi Berenice......

Here are a few pictures......

Mike

Richardson winning the VC as printed by Anheuser-Busch an American brewing company given out as an advertising poster in 1902/03.....



Richardson Himself.....



Group photo of Royal Northwest Mounted Police, 2 VC winners in picture.....



This one has been identified as Richardson.....



This one is has not been positively identified but they think that it is Turner....

An interesting facet of his life after 1907 from: www.stjamescemetery.co.uk/people/arthur-hlrichardson-vc.html

Living in virtual obscurity, it was on 7 April, 1924 the local newspaper, the Liverpool Echo, had contacted the V.C. winner, Sergeant Arthur Herbert Lindsay Richardson who had recently read about the death of his imposter. For nine years another man had been accorded all the accolades of a V.C. winner, deserved to Sgt. Richardson. He felt it was time to speak out as there had been rumors he had died in Canada. It was at this point, he was reunited with his mother and brother for the first time in over twenty years.

On the 26th June 1920 King George V invited him to attend an Afternoon Party at Buckingham Palace where he, and other V.C. recipients were honored.

Sergeant Richardson worked as a track layer for the local tramway from the time of his return to England until his death on 15 February 1932 at age 59.

Good heavens David, just 56 years old, that is really no age by todays standards.

Another snipped on the imposter story from www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/gal/vcg...chardson-ahl-eng.asp

During this period, another man named Arthur Richardson, a corporal in The Gordon Highlanders of the British Army, began passing himself off as the winner of the Victoria Cross. He succeeded so well that, when he died, he was buried with military honours. Ironically, the real Arthur Richardson, VC was discovered marching in the funeral cortège of his imposter.

Missed this one,thanks for posting Berenice and the extra pics Mike

Paul