Legh Richmond

Born in Liverpool in 1772, Legh Richmond studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a Church of England minister. He served on the Isle of Wight and later spent many years as rector of Turvey in Bedfordshire, where his preaching and pastoral work fed directly into his writing.

Richmond became famous for short religious narratives based on humble, everyday lives, especially The Dairyman’s Daughter, The Young Cottager, and The Negro Servant. These stories were later collected in Annals of the Poor, a book that reached a very wide readership and made him one of the best-known evangelical writers of his day.

He also wrote letters and devotional pieces for children and families, and his books remained influential long after his death in 1827. Readers often come to him for the mix of simple storytelling, moral earnestness, and close attention to ordinary people’s lives.