reached maturity. Of a son Isaac, who died at Ventnor, aged 30, Richardson wrote a brief ‘Memoir,’ published in London, 12mo, 1841. He also wrote tracts and pamphlets on tithes and other subjects, and ‘Annals of the Cleveland Richardsons and their Descendants,’ Newcastle, 12mo, 1850.
[Mrs. Ogden Boyce, Records of a Quaker Family, London, 1889, 4to, with genealogical charts, based on Richardson's Annals of the Cleveland Richardsons; Journal of the Gospel Labours of George Richardson, &c., London, 1864; Smith's Cat. of Friends' Books, ii. 483; Northern Daily Express, 11 Aug. 1862.]
RICHARDSON, GEORGE FLEMING (1796?–1848), geologist, was born about 1796. He acted at one time as curator to the collection of Dr. Gideon Algernon Mantell [q. v.], when it was on exhibition at Brighton in 1837. He also took notes of a series of Mantell's lectures, which were published as ‘The Wonders of Geology’ (1838).
In 1838, when Mantell's collection was bought by the trustees of the British Museum, Richardson entered their service as assistant in the ‘department of minerals.’ This post he filled for ten years. During the same period he lectured on geology and kindred subjects, and was elected a fellow of the Geological Society on 22 May 1839. In 1848 pecuniary embarrassments led him into the bankruptcy court, and he committed suicide in Somers Town on 5 July 1848. His geological handbooks were useful compilations; he was less successful in his efforts in general literature. He was author of: 1. ‘Poetic Hours,’ &c., 12mo, London, 1825. 2. ‘Rosalie Berton,’ in ‘Tales of all Nations,’ 12mo, London, 1827. 3. ‘Sketches in Prose and Verse,’ 8vo, London, 1835; 2nd ser. 8vo, London, 1838. 4. ‘Geology for Beginners,’ &c., 12mo, London, 1842; 2nd ed. 1843; reissued 1851. 5. ‘Geology, Mineralogy,’ &c., revised by Wright, 8vo, London, 1858. ‘An Essay on the German Language and Literature,’ by Richardson, is advertised in ‘A Descriptive Catalogue of the Objects … in the Museum attached to the Sussex Scientific and Literary Institute, 1836,’ which last he possibly also wrote. He also translated ‘The Life of C. T. Körner,’ 8vo, London, 1827; 2nd edit. 1845; and at his death he had completed a translation of Bouterwek's ‘History of German Literature.’
[Athenæum, 1848, p. 704; Gent. Mag. 1849, p. 550; Introd. to Wonders of Geology, 3rd edit.; information kindly supplied by the authorities of the British Museum and by the assistant secretary of the Geological Society; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
RICHARDSON, JAMES (1806–1851), African traveller, was born in 1806 in Lincolnshire, and was educated for the evangelical ministry. His early training and enterprising temper produced in adult life an ambition to propagate Christianity and suppress the slave trade in Africa. He attached himself to the English Anti-Slavery Society, and under its auspices went out to Malta, where he took part in the editing of a newspaper and also engaged in the study of the Arabic language and of geography, with a view to systematic exploration. His first attempt to penetrate into North Africa was by Morocco, but here his resources were unequal to the enterprise, and, after visiting the chief coast towns of that district during a stay of some months, he gave up the project. His next effort was by way of Algiers and Tripoli in the spring of 1845. On this side he reached Ghadames and Ghat (by the end of October 1845), where he made a stay of some weeks and recorded many interesting but not very original observations. He tried to penetrate still further south, but was forced to be content with what had been already done. Returning by Fezzan, he re-entered Tripoli on 18 April 1847, and made his way back to England [cf. art. Lyon, George Francis]. He contrived to enlist the sympathies of Lord Palmerston, who supported his scheme for a government exploration of the Sahara and Soudan. To this plan he tried hard to give an international character, first visiting Paris in September 1849 and attempting to gain the help of the president of the republic through the mediation of Walckenaer, Jomard, and other savants, but without success; and finally obtaining, with the aid of Bunsen, then Prussian ambassador in London, the co-operation of two Germans, Barth and Overweg, who accompanied him at the expense and under the direction of the English government. The especial object of this expedition was to explore Lake Tchad, which, in spite of the visits of Oudney, Denham, and Clapperton (1822–4), still remained on the horizon of European knowledge. Richardson's wife, whom he had married shortly before his start on this his third and final venture, went with him as far as Tripoli, and was left there to wait for his return. On 23 March 1850 the three explorers set out from Tripoli, arriving at Ghat on 24 July. They reached Aheer, or Asben, on the southern edge of the Sahara, on 4 Sept., and Damerghou in December of the same year. At this point they were delayed some time, and at last decided to take different ways to Lake Tchad, their rendezvous. Richardson went straight by
