| Administrative History | Albert Ernest Richardson (b c 1868) was educated at Oxford High School, London City Technical College and the University of Oxford obtaining a BA in 1894 (Natural Sciences), MA in 1897 and BD in 1901. His initial offer of service to the CMS in 1895 was deferred and, after ordination as a deacon in 1896 and as a priest in 1897, from 1896-1898 he served as curate of St Clement's, Ipswich before being accepted by CMS 18 May 1897. He left for Lagos in November 1898, and then went overland to Tripoli as a member of a pioneer party for Hausaland Mission led by Bishop Herbert Tugwell (c 1855-1936); the other members of the group were fellow CMS missionaries, Rev John Robert Burgin (1869-1920); Rev John Claud Dudley Ryder (1873-1900) and Rev Walter Richard Samuel Miller (1873-1952). He returned to England from Hausaland in July 1899 and then out to the CMS Western Equatorial Africa Mission (Lagos and Hausaland) in December. On 6 June 1900, poor health led to his return to England from Gierku, Hausaland; in November 1901, he was appointed to undertake special deputation work in England. A year later, his re-offer as a missionary was accepted (16 December 1902) and on 30 April 1903 he sailed out for Bombay, India. He returned to England in February 1904 before resigning on medical grounds early in 1905. His subsequent career included service as Deputation Secretary with the CMS, 1904-1906, curate of St Andrew, Plymouth 1906-1910, Metropolitan Secretary of the Church Army 1910-1914, Warden of the Church Army Training College 1914-1940 and curate of St Mary-at-Hill, London, 1914-1939. He was author of 'Hausaland and the Gospel' (London, 1901). His sister, (Emala) Edith Richardson, went out to Bombay with the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission in 1898; she married James Punnett Butlin, a CMS missionary in November 1904.
Source: Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904. Church Missionary Society, 1905 (annotated version); Crockford's Clerical Directory 1947. |
| Custodial History | Presented to the CMS in 1954; transferred on permanent loan to the Special Collections Department by the CMS in the 1980s. An additional volume, dated 1898-1899, was presented to Cadbury Research Library by the same donor in 2015. |