JOHN RICHARDS, the subject of this short Memoir, was born at Penryn, in the county of Cornwall, August 4, 1771. He was descended from respectable parents. His father was a gentleman of some independent property, who, in early life, held the commission of a Captain in the Cornwall Militia. He was a man well known in the western part of the county, and generally respected for his sound sense and integrity of principle. His mother's maiden name was Loscombe: she was the only daughter of Joseph Loscombe, esq. a merchant of the city of Bristol.
As it is the principal object of this Memoir to afford a sketch of Mr. Richards's ministerial character, his early history will be noticed as briefly as possible. At the age of ten years he was placed under the care of Dr. Cardew, the master of the