Richard Richardson

Tracing who he was, where born, and who his parents were has been done through the following internet sources:

http://www.cheshirebmd.org.uk - This provides births of Freda, Douglas and Zoe under Tranmere district. That same district, Tranmere, is where a Richard Richardson died in 1895 'aged 46'. [This cannot have been his age - see 1891 census below]. Marriage to Florence is also listed on that website, church named as St Saviour's, Oxton, in 1889. Actual marriage date not found, but it is on the quarterly list (available on ancestry.com) for Jul, Aug, Sep 1889.

National Probate Calendar gives date of death 21 Oct 1895, Birkenhead. Describes him as a rice broker, of Arno Road, Oxton. Probate date was 27 Feb 1896, administration being granted to Ralph Mainwaring Dawson, rice broker. Effects £233 0s 7d.

In the 1891 census he is age 37, living with Florence (26) in Oxton. Here it says he was born in Rainford, Lancashire.

Birth/baptism of Richard Richardson and his siblings in Rainford found here: http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Rainford/allsaints/baptisms_1851-1861.html. The name 'Birch' which he passed on to his son Douglas also occurs in his brother, James Birch Richardson, and an uncle also named James Birch Richardson.

In the 1871 census he is age 17 and living with his parents and siblings at Murray House, Rainford. He is described as 'apprentice to merchant'.

In the 1881 census he is aged 27 and living with his parents and elder sister Annie Maria (28) at Murray House. Described as a commercial clerk, colonial brokers.

Rainford, an inland town, wouldn't have had merchants and brokers, so where was Richard working and how did he get there? It's most likely he was working in Liverpool, where Ralph Mainwaring Dawson's brokerage was based. There was a railway line connecting Rainford to Liverpool from 1858, so this would have been a well established route by the time he started work, and a journey of less than 20 miles.