Today marks the 130th anniversary of the death of Henry Richard, M.P. for Merthyr for twenty years.
Henry Richard was born in Tregaron in Ceredigion on 3 April 1812, son of Rev Ebenezer Richard, a prominent minister in the Calvinistic Methodist movement. After attending Llangeitho Grammar School, Henry Richard entered Highbury Independent College in London, before receiving a call to become the minister at Marlborough Chapel in the Old Kent Road. The cause was at a very low ebb when Richard undertook the pastoral duties, but owing to his hard work and earnestness, the congregation increased, the debt on the chapel was paid, a Sunday school was built, whilst a day school and literary institution were established in the neighbourhood – the British School, Oakley Place.
He resigned his position in 1850 to devote himself as full-time as secretary to the Peace Society, a post he had undertaken two years earlier on a part-time basis. He helped organize a series of congresses in the capitals of Europe, and was partly instrumental in securing the insertion of a declaration in favour of arbitration in the treaty of Paris in 1856. Through this work he became universally known in Europe and the United States until his resignation in 1885. It was because of these efforts, he became known as ‘The Apostle of Peace’.
During the early 1860s, Henry Richard became a leading figure in the Liberation Society, whose main aim was the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. The Society increasingly focused its attentions on Richard’s native Wales and sought to contest parliamentary elections. At the 1865 General Election, Richard announced his intention to contest Cardiganshire but withdrew in view of the opposition of the Liberal elite in the county.
Following his defeat in Cardiganshire, in 1868 Henry Richard was elected Liberal member of parliament for the Merthyr and Aberdare boroughs. Following his election, Richard became known as one of the foremost nonconformists in the House of Commons. Here he was a leading member of the party which advocated the removal of Nonconformist grievances and the disestablishment of the church in Wales. Such was his standing, not just in Merthyr, but throughout the whole of the Principality, that he was once referred to by one of his parliamentary contemporaries as ‘The Member for Wales’.
Richard was also an ardent supporter of the anti-slavery movement, and worked tirelessly to bring about the end of slavery. Indeed, a few weeks after his death, the Anti-Slavery Society, now Anti-Slavery International, published an obituary in their journal, The Anti-slavery Reporter and Aborigine’s Friend.
Richard died suddenly of heart disease on 20 August 1888 at the home of the Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey in Treborth, near Bangor. His body was brought to his London residence in Bolton Gardens, South Kensington, where it lay in state until his funeral on 31 August.
On 18 August 1893, the Henry Richard Memorial Statue was unveiled at Tregaron.
The inscription on the plinth reads:
Born here in Tregaron, he was educated for the Christian ministry, and in 1835 he was ordained in London. In 1848 he was appointed Secretary to the Peace Society, gaining an international reputation as “The Apostle of Peace.” In 1868 he became M.P. for the Merthyr constituency: and such was his concern for Welsh affairs that he became known as “the Member for Wales.” He was also a prominent pioneer in education: he served on several commissions of enquiry and in 1883 he became the first vice-president of Cardiff University College.
“I have always been mindful of three things:–Not to forget the language of my country; and the people and cause of my country; and to neglect no opportunity of defending the character and promoting the interests of my country.”
“My hope for the abatement of the war system lies in the permanent conviction of the people, rather than the policies of cabinets or the discussions of parliaments.”
