Sir Eric Richardson, 1905-2006

The national heavies have published obituaries to Sir Eric (Eric to his friends for he had no pomposity) and there is no need for the monumental achievements to be reiterated here. From a humble cottage home and leaving school at 15, Eric become a giant in the field of education. That a grateful nation heaped honours upon Eric is not a surprise…

Neither is it the occasion to speak of his marriage to May Ð in her own right a significant Christian leader Ð or of his and the family’s sacrificial support as she battled (and still does) with the curse of Alzheimer’s disease. It is Eric as a man of God that will be the story here.

Typical of many of his generation in the North West of England, Eric was brought up a Methodist. He was steeped in the hymns of Methodism. The day came when the experience of Christ of which they speak became his own. It was a point of contact between us for we knew the hymns, debated them, argued over them and, best of all, sang them. Eric Ð a sound if unmelodic tenor Ð sang from a heart experience of coming to know the Saviour, and heartily concurred with Charles Wesley when he wrote, `My God, I am thine, what a comfort divine’. Eric was a man who had a personal experience of salvation in Christ.

That he became a widely recognised educationalist did not deflect Eric in any degree from his simple walk with God and deep love for Christ. As the honours of a grateful nation were heaped upon him, Eric, undeflected, maintained his spiritual life. Chairman of London Bible College and Crusaders were but two of many organisations where Eric’s skill in education and faith could be brought together. Though never identified with any particular theological stream, he was a conservative evangelical of the Keswick tradition, which he frequently attended.

It was as a life deacon at Duke Street, Richmond, that I got to know him. His ordered mind and inquisitive spirit led to the writing of several papers on theological and spiritual themes from divorce and re-marriage to Ð in his penultimate year Ð a study on angels. Strangely it was these papers that perhaps bound us together as friends. On becoming the pastor, I discovered that there was a paper on most things. Early in my ministry, on one particularly delicate issue that confronted us, Eric informed me that there was a paper on the subject. I replied that I would have to find my own way on the matter. A pause, a moment of tension passed, then the wry grin broke out and we were friends who respected each other and worked closely together for nearly 13 years.

Eric’s mental and physical energy in old age became legendary, seen in home improvement projects undertaken in his later 90s and his never ending love of gadgets Ð for as an electrical engineer they fascinated him. But underneath everything was his simple faith and humble spirit. Eric never realised that he had reduced the Bible study to mirth in his public reading of Aaron’s rod that `boodid’ according to his never lost northern accent. But had he seen the laughter no harm would have been done by it. I repeat, there was none of the pomposity in Eric that would inevitably have marked a lesser man of similar attainments.

At a party held in Plymouth to celebrate Eric’s 100th birthday I had the privilege of bringing the tribute. I said that I suspected that I had the best years of Eric at Duke Street. People were surprised by that. Let me explain. Of course, by the time that I arrived in 1986 the monumental years of national influence and prodigious achievement were ended. But a mellowness had set in. I have no doubt that previous pastors could have found him forthright, confident and even intimidating in the stating of an opinion. But for me there was a gentleness and mutual regard that made deacons’ meetings a delight. Eric’s commitment to the church, services and witness, put many a younger member to shame. He was a man of God. Like Enoch, Eric went on pilgrimage Ð a very long one Ð for he walked with God into his 102nd year. Like Enoch one day he found it easier to walk on rather than return to the costly ministry of support for May and the pressures of existence in extreme age. Like Enoch, Eric was a friend of God and by a blessed circumstance he was a friend of mine too.

The Rev. Robert Amess,
former pastor of Duke Street Church, Richmond, Surrey

Because of space constraints, it was only possible to print an edited version in the December issue. This is the full version.

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