Grandfather's Memoirs

~ Grandfather's Memoirs ~

Arthur James Richardson ~ original photograph in possession of Linda (Filbert) Masters, 2002

The image of Arthur James Richardson (1879-1967) above, was generously provided by Linda Masters from the collection of her father, Roy Filbert, 2002. The old English tune is The Nightingales Sing, as Arthur wrote in his memoirs of nightingales singing. It is from Barry Taylor at Taylor's Traditional Tunebook. ~

ARTHUR JAMES RICHARDSON, (son of EDWARD RICHARDSON, grandson of RICHARD RICHARDSON), was born on November 27, 1879 in Forest Hill, London, England, and died March 28, 1967, in Catonsville, Baltimore County, Maryland. He married, firstly, to MARTHA SMITH on August 2, 1900 in Greenwich, London, England, the daughter of JAMES SMITH and SARAH PHELPS. Martha was born October 16, 1876 in Walkerton, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada, and died May 15, 1942 in Arbutus, Baltimore County, Maryland. He married secondly, after Martha's death, a widow, THERESIA FLORRIE (CAVY) BOSWELL. She was born June 1892 in Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, and died 1960 in Arbutus, Howard County, Maryland.

Children of Arthur and Martha Richardson:

EDWARD ARTHUR JAMES RICHARDSON, born 1901, England

BENJAMIN BERNARD RICHARDSON, born 1904, England

VICTOR HENRY RICHARDSON, born 1906, Canada

MYRTLE MARTHA RICHARDSON, born 1906, Canada

IVY AGNES RICHARDSON, born 1913, Canada

~The Memoirs~

When reading these writings of my grandfather please remember that he was schooled during the nineteenth century when there was not such a standardization of spelling and punctuation as we today are accustomed to seeing. I retained all of his spellings in my transcription, but I changed the punctuation and capitalization, mainly for ease of reading, but also, as they were unfamiliar to me. Arthur was a man who could quote the Bible and Shakespeare.

Memoir Number 1 ~ Arthur James Richardson (1879-1967) sent this memoir to his nephew, Harry Richardson, of Alberta, Canada. It is now in the possession of Harry's son, Tasman Richardson.

Memoir Number 2 ~~ This memoir Arthur sent to his oldest grandchild, Roy Filbert. It is neatly handwritten and is very similar to others that he posted to his nephew in Canada and grandchild, Vivian Sanders. The one here consists of 13 pages of which one page is missing, probably missed in the photocopying process, but perhaps extant in the possession of the owner. Both my grandfather and his sister, Florence, seem to have been schooled in a method of punctuation and capitalization unfamiliar to me, therefore the transcription that I made is not exactly as written by him in those aspects. I did attempt to retain all of his unique spellings, remembering that he was 85 years old when he scribed these recollections. Along with this copy, my cousin also included a note describing the “Burial Location” of Arthur’s father in Johannesburg, South Africa. The note gives the date 5th March 1897, on the corner of President and Small Streets, Johannesburg, Grave #6383. The information came from Mrs. K. Swann, 56 Siddons Road, Forest Hill, London SE 23.

Memoir Number 3 ~ Arthur Richardson was the father of Ted Richardson and a great influence on him and Ted's two brothers Ben and Vic. In Arthur's final years he penned a number of these memoirs which he sent to relatives. The one included here was sent to his granddaughter, Vivian (Sanders) Pope. The memoirs are neatly handwritten. Arthur's unique spellings have been preserved in this transcript, but punctuation has been altered for easy of reading.

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