Life

The son of James Richards, later vicar of Rainham, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, George Richards was baptised on 15 September 1767. He was admitted at Christ's Hospital, London, in June 1776, and was then described as from Hadleigh in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

. Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb was an English essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, which he produced with his sister, Mary Lamb . Lamb has been referred to by E.V...

 knew him at school, and calls him ‘a pale, studious Grecian.’ On 10 March 1775 he matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

, becoming a scholar of his college in 1786. He gained two chancellor's prizes: in 1787 for Latin verse, and in 1789 for an English essay ‘On the characteristic Differences between Ancient and Modern Poetry’. In 1791 George Simon Harcourt, 2nd Earl Harcourt gave anonymously a prize for an English poem on the ‘Aboriginal Britons.’ This Richards won, and the donor of the prize became his lifelong friend. The poem was printed separately and in sets of ‘Oxford Prize Poems.’ It was praised by Lord Byron (English Bards and Scotch Reviewers).

Richards graduated B.A. on 4 November 1788, M.A. on 11 July 1791, and B.D. and D.D. in 1820. In 1790, when he took holy orders, he was elected to a fellowship at Oriel College

Oriel College

Oriel College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford...

, and remained there until 1796. He was appointed Bampton lecturer in 1800, and select preacher in 1804 and 1811. From 1796, when he married, to 1824 he was one of the vicars of Bampton

Bampton

- England :* Bampton, Cumbria* Bampton, Devon** Bampton railway station**Bampton * Bampton, Oxfordshire- Other :*Bampton Island, former name of Parama Island, Papua New Guinea*Bampton Reefs, Chesterfield Islands, New Caledonia- People :...

, and rector of Lillingstone Lovel in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

. In July 1824 he was appointed to the more valuable vicarage of St Martin-in-the-Fields

St Martin-in-the-Fields

St Martin-in-the-Fields is an Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours.-Roman era:Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave dated about 410...

 in Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

. There he built a new vicarage, contributed towards the erection of the church of St. Michael in Burleigh Street, Strand, and served for some years as treasurer of Charing Cross Hospital

Charing Cross Hospital

Charing Cross Hospital is a general, acute hospital located in London, United Kingdom and established in 1818. It is located several miles to the west of the city centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham....

. In 1822 he became a governor of Christ's Hospital.

In 1799 he was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He died at Russell Square

Russell Square

Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. To the north is Woburn Place and to the south-east is Southampton Row...

, London, on 30 March 1837, and was buried in a special vault in the churchyard of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on 6 April. He married, on 6 October 1796,

Works

Richards published, besides the works above:

• ‘Songs of the Aboriginal Bards of Britain,’ 1792.
• ‘Modern France: a Poem,’ 1793.
• ‘Matilda, or the Dying Penitent,’ a poetical epistle, 1795.
• ‘The Divine Origin of Prophecy illustrated and defended’ (Bampton Lectures), 1800.
• ‘Odin,’ a drama, 1804.
• ‘Emma,’ a drama on the model of the Greek theatre, 1804.
• ‘Poems,’ 1804, 2 vols.; the first volume was dedicated to Lord Harcourt, the second to the Rev. William Benwell; most of the poems which he had previously published were reprinted in this collection.
• ‘Monody on Death of Lord Nelson,’ 1806.