Edwin Richards

Edwin Richards played hockey for Abergavenny and Wales, and played in virtually every position for the national side. He was a one-time captain of the Welsh team, and played for them in their only game at the 1908 London Olympics, a 3-1 defeat to Ireland, yet still collected a bronze medal.

Richards was also a keen golfer and was a member of the Morlais Castle Golf Club in Merthyr, but his favourite pastimes were fishing and shooting. It was during a visit to his brother’s house in Ipswich for a shooting break that he was taken ill and died just five days before his 51st birthday in 1930.

Richards was a well-known South Wales architect and was admitted to the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1925. He was a partner in Johnson, Richards, and Rees, who were responsible for the design of many notable buildings in the area, including the Lord Buckland Memorial Hospital at Merthyr, which opened six months after Richards’ death. Richards lived in the village of Cefn Coed where he was a parish councillor and also heavily involved with the Boy Scouts movement. He was a well-known breeder and exhibitor of retriever dogs.

Richards’ mother Susannah was a well-known Welsh harpist and gave recitals for members of the Royal Family, and in 1917 gave a recital at 10 Downing Street for Prime Minister Lloyd George. When Edwin was born, her husband (also called Edwin) had died three months before the birth of their son, when just 26-years-of-age.