Brig General Colonel of Artillery - Marlborough's armies - on his staff at Ramilles Date of death given in Musgrove's Obituaries ref Historical Register Chronicle 12; (chronological diary to Historical register London 1714-38 museum press no PP3407): 1721 is OS, NS would be 1722 Career according to notes made by F.A.Richards 1692 Lieut in the Queen Dowager's Regiment 1692-1696 Served with Artillery Train in Flanders 1695 Wounded Oct 1696 Appointed engineer with salary of 'a3100 pa 1697 Commanded train sent to Newfoundland 25 March 1705 Captain 1st Foot Guards. Served with Train of Artillery in Spain with rank of Colonel under Earl of Galway. Governor of Alicante Commanded the Train at Almanza 11 Sept 1706 ? Appointed Chief Engineer of England c 1710 Appointed Colonel of a regiment of foot which he disposed of to Col William Stanhope (17 March 1711) 12 Feb 1711 Brigadier-General 2 Dec 1714 Surveyor General of the Ordnance to George 1st 1721 Died unmarried. Musgrave's Obituary gives date as 5 February 1722: maybe this is a new style date and 1721 is the old style. Extract from "The Richards Brothers" by F.J.Hebbert in the Irish Sword 1975 Michael Richards (1673-1721) saw his first service with the train of artillery in Ireland under his brother Jacob in 1691. He was granted a commission in the Queen Dowager's Regiment dated 1 February 1692, but was appointed as engineer with the train of artillery in Flanders in the same month, and served at Steinkirk and Landen. At the siege of Namur he was wounded in the assault on the citadel. His appointment, which included command of the pontoon train (the 'Bridgemen and Tin Boatmen') was renewed as engineer on 21 October 1696. At this time the English government was concerned about the safety of the important Newfoundland fisheries. The population of St John was small, and the French had a base at Placentia on the west coast of the Avalon peninsula, not far away. A military and naval expedition was sent to St John to fortify it under Colonel Gibson and Michael Richards was appointed as engineer in charge. His correspondence from St John gives a very full account of the day-to-day problems of a military engineer engaged in the construction of coast defence batteries and barracks in a remote but important overseas post and contains a great deal of detail on practical fortification. He was home on sick, leave for a year from October 1702 and his report on Newfoundland was considered by the privy council in 1704, by which time he was back in Europe on Marlborough's staff, and saw service at the Schellenberg and at Blenheim, evidently with some distinction since he was granted a captaincy in the lst Foot Guards in March 1705. He continued to serve in Flanders during that year and was once employed to carry Marlborough's despatches to the emperor. The following year he carried Marlborough's report of the victory of Ramilles to the queen. He later wrote an official report on the battle. By now he was sufficiently experienced to be appointed chief engineer with the reinforcements sent to Spain early in 1707 and he joined Lord Galway's headquarters. The allied army based in Valencia advanced into Murcia, with some initial success, capturing Yecla and other places in Bourbon hands. At Almanza on 25 April, however, Galway found himself facing Berwick's greatly superior forces and was heavily defeated From this, possibly the decisive battle of the war in Spain, Michael Richards was able to withdraw his own six guns (the bulk of the artillery was Portuguese and was lost), together with the transport, commissariat and ambulances (400 wagons in all), which can have been no easy piece of organization. By 11 May he was in Tortosa in Catalonia, not far from the mouth of the Ebro. Here he was required to arrange the defence of Catalonia, stationing various engineer officers in the towns along the borders of the province. A new policy now appeared with the arrival of Austrian reinforcements under Graf Guido Von Starhemberg who assumed over-all command, with Stanhope commanding the British contingent, and in 1708 it was under Stanhope that Michael Richards commanded the train. During this period he was in constant communication with John, holding out in the threatened parts of Valencia still held by the allies. Tortora was captured, and Michael was involved in an unsuccessful attempt to re-take it in a surprise attack. He was appointed chief engineer in an expedition to capture Cadiz - a plan put forward in London by his brother John - with a force to be based on Gibraltar, but the plan was shortly abandoned. However, he was able to put his visit to Gibraltar to good use by submitting plans for improving the defences while there. In the campaign of 1710 with the new allied army, now largely German, Michael as engineer and artillery officer, served at the battles of Almenara and Saragossa. This was followed by the final allied drive for Madrid, and a brief hour of triumph for the Archduke Charles, followed by abandonment of the capital and the withdrawal of the allied army. At this time Michael was with Starhemberg with an artillery train of 20 guns. After the Bourbon success at Brihuegar, Starhemberg was obliged to fight at Villa Viciosa against a superior force under the formidable Marshal Vend'f4me. Richards's artillery replied to the bombardment of an hour and a half which opened the battle; in the confused fighting that followed the allied army held its own, and the Bourbon forces withdrew, leaving their guns. This nominal victory was nullified by the loss of the allied draught animals when Spanish cavalry had over-run the baggage lines, and without transport and with few horses for the guns Starhemberg had to abandon the baggage and most of the guns, withdrawing six captured pieces and three of his own and spiking the remainder. There were heavy casualties among Richards's artillery, and at the end of the withdrawal he remained in Barcelona to organize the defences there. Now an acting brigadier-general, he was recalled to England in September 1711 with prospects of promotion; and Marlborough's recommendation to the post of chief engineer, in a letter to General Erle commander-in-chief South Britain, which read as follows: 'the place of first engineer (of Great Britain) having long been vacant, I know of none whose pretensions stand so fair for it as Colonel Michael Richards who, having served so long and had a good deal of experience I should be glad if you wou1d take the proper method of writing to the Secretary of State to move H.M. to bestow this employment on him.' As neither Erle nor Marlborough himself stood high in political favour at the time, it would seem that merit alone secured the the appointment made on 12 September 1711, at a salary of 'a3300 per annum and a travelling allowance of 20 shillings a day. That the travelling allowance was not superfluous is shown by the list of fortified places reported on by Michael Richards in the United Kingdom: Portsmouth, Hull, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Tynemouth, Sheerness and Stirling Castle. He was promoted surveyor general of the 'Ordnance Munitions and Habiliments of war in the Tower and elsewhere in England and Ireland' on 2 December 1714. In this capacity, with the help of Colonel John Armstrong, his successor as chief engineer, he established the Royal Engineers under a warrant dated 26 May 1716, and also founded the Royal Military academy. He was instrumental in forming the Royal Regiment of Artillery established after his death in 1722 under Colonel Albert Borgard, who had served with him in Spain. He died in 1721 and was buried in the church of St. Luke. Old Charlton, not far from Woolwich. His tomb has a handsome standing armoured effigy, one of the last of its kind, erected by his nieces, daughters of his sister Elizabeth, who married James Craggs (1657-1721), financier and postmaster-general, a client of the duke and duchess of Marlborough He was a good friend to the Richards brothers, as was his son James (1686-1721), who became secretary of state and was associated with them in Spain as British resident in Barcelona at the court of Archduke Charles. Memorial Inscription in Charlton Church, Kent In memory of the Hon Brigadier Michael Richards Surveyor General of the Ordnance to his late Majesty King George 1. Ob the 5th February 1721 aet 48. This was erected by three nieces and executix, daughters of James Craggs Esq Anne wife of John Knight of Co Essex Esq, Elizabeth Eliot widow of Edward Eliot of County Cornwall Esq and Dame Margaret wife of Sir John Hind Cotton Co Cambridge Baronet. NOTES. The compiler of the list of memorial inscriptions states this was a large monument. It must have been erected after 1727 when George 1 died explaining why the nieces have different husbands from those on the MI to their father.et wife of Sir John Hind Cotton Co Cambridge Baronet.