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Alfred Bate Richards
1820–1876
A sharp-tongued Victorian journalist, playwright, and poet, he moved from the law into literary life and became a lively presence in mid-19th-century public debate. He is also remembered for helping champion Britain’s volunteer movement while editing major newspapers.
1 Audiobook
Cromwell: A Drama, in Five Acts
by Alfred Bate Richards
About the author
Born in Worcestershire on February 17, 1820, Alfred Bate Richards was educated at Westminster School and Exeter College, Oxford. After taking his degree, he briefly followed the legal path and was called to the bar, but literature and journalism soon became his real career.
He wrote plays, poems, essays, and fiction, and built a reputation as an energetic man of letters. Richards worked as the first editor of the Daily Telegraph and later became editor of the Morning Advertiser, bringing his strong opinions and public spirit into the newspaper world as well as his books.
Beyond writing, he was closely linked with the volunteer movement of 1859 and was often described as one of its leading advocates. He died on April 14, 1876, leaving behind the varied record of a Victorian author who was as engaged with public life as he was with the printed page.