Richard Buckley Litchfield (6 January 1832 in Yarpole – 11 January 1903 in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

) was a British scholar and philanthropist..

Life

R. B. Litchfield was the only son of Captain Richard Litchfield of

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, England. He was educated at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, where he became a friend of

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...

, and where he then taught

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. He was admitted to the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1854, and was called to the Bar in 1863. He was a founder of the Working Men's College,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where he worked devotedly from 1854 to 1901, being the College's

Bursar A bursar (derived from "bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education (f ...

, and becoming its

Vice Principal In larger school systems, a head teacher principal is often assisted by someone known as a vice-principal, deputy principal, or assistant/associate principal. Unlike the principal, the vice-principal does not have quite the decision-making authorit ...

between 1872 and 1875. In the mid-1850s he was

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the College

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

J. F. C. Harrison John Fletcher Clews Harrison (28 February 1921 – 8 January 2018), usually cited as J. F. C. Harrison, was a British academic who was Professor of History at the University of Sussex and author of books on history, particularly relating to Victor ...

,''A History of the Working Men's College (1854-1954)'', Routledge Kegan Paul, 1954 Litchfield was a fellow Working Men's College colleague of

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

. He married a daughter of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

, Henrietta Emma ('Etty') Darwin, in 1871, but there were no children from the marriage. He wrote a substantial

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

of the

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

, Thomas Wedgwood, which was

published Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

in the year of his death. In his niece-by-marriage

Gwen Raverat Gwendolen Mary "Gwen" Raverat (née Darwin; 26 August 1885 – 11 February 1957), was an English wood engraver who was a founder member of the Society of Wood Engravers. Her memoir '' Period Piece'' was published in 1952. Biography Gwendolen ...

's ''

Period Piece A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...

'',

she described him thus: "He was a nice funny little man, whose socks were always coming down; he had an egg-shaped waistcoat, and a fuzzy, waggly, whitey-brown beard, which was quite indistinguishable, both in colour and texture, from the Shetland shawl which Aunt Etty generally made him wear round his neck." He lived at 31

Kensington Square Kensington Square is a garden square in Kensington, London, W8. It was built from 1692 on land acquired for the purpose in 1685 and is the oldest such square in Kensington. The houses facing, Nos. 1–45, are listed Grade II for their architec ...

; he died on 11 January 1903, and is buried in the English part of the Cemetery « LE GRAND JAS » in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The exact location of the grave is "Cimetière du Grand Jas, 18ème allée (ex-Protestant) n°44"; the inscription on his gravestone reads: "He prayeth best who loveth best, all things both great and small" (taken from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner poem ) - and - "A founder of the Working Men's College, London where he devotedly worked for nearly fifty years."

Works

*''The Beginnings of the Working Men's College''. London, England, 1902 *''Tom Wedgwood, the First Photographer: An Account of His Life''. London, Duckworth and Co, 1903.

References

* Litchfield, Henrietta Emma (1910). ''Richard Buckley Litchfield: A memoir written for his friends''. University Press, Cambridge. (276 pages).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Litchfield, Richard Buckley 1832 births 1903 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English academics English Christian socialists People from Herefordshire