Company Secretary of the Planet Building Society. c.1871 he demolished the old Friary House and built the present house in which he lived until his death.
details some property transactions whereby "... most were sold to the Planet Building Society, which planned a road south-westward from Friern Barnet Lane across Torrington Park to the Great North Road. The western stretch, intended to join Friern Park, was laid out as Torrington Road .... Edmund William Richardson, secretary of the building society, bought most of the plots between Friary Road and Torrington Park as his garden..."
Our colleague, Andrew Behan, states that Edmund William Richardson was born on 4 March 1833 at 8 Somerset Place, East Reach, Taunton, Somersetshire, a son of Henry Richardson (b.1803) and Anne Richardson née Halliday (1800-1857). His birth was recorded in the Protestant Dissenters' Birth Registry; 1824-1837 on 3 June 1833 that showed his father was a haberdasher.
On 10 September 1856 he married Mary Grace Robinson (1829-1903) at All Saints Church, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, where he is shown on the marriage register as aged 23 years, a bachelor and a railway clerk living in London, whilst his wife was described as aged 25 years, a spinster residing in Dewsbury, the daughter of John Robinson, a clock and watch maker.
In the 1861 census he is described as a railway clerk and Wesleyan local preacher living at 18 Offord Road, Islington, Middlesex (now Greater London), with his wife and two sons: Harry Halliday Richardson (1857-1927) and John Seagram Richardson (1859-1934), together with two female house servants. Also boarding at their home was the wife of a Presbyterian minister and her three daughters.
When the 1871 census was undertaken he was shown as a Secretary to Registered Public Company and a land owner, residing at The Friary, Friern Park, Friern Barnet, Middlesex (now Greater London), together with his wife, four of their children: Edmund William Richardson (1861-1940); Eliza Aimée Richardson (1863-1938); Mary Elsie Richardson (b.1865) and Lilian Ada E. Richardson (1869-1952), his sister Anne Emma Richardson (1828-1909), together with a housemaid, a coachman and his wife.
The 1881 census shows him as a surveyor and auctioneer living in Friern Lane, Friern Barnet, together with his son, Edmund William Richardson, who was his articled clerk, his three daughters, Eliza, Mary and Lilian, together with a cook, a housemaid, an under housemaid, a gardener, the gardener's wife and their son.
He was shown as an auctioneer and surveyor in 1891 census, residing in The Friary, Friern Barnet, with his wife, their son Harry who was a solicitor, their other son Edmund who was a surveyor, their three daughters, Eliza, Mary and Lilian, together with a cook, a parlourmaid, a coachman and the coachman's wife.
The 1901 census shows him as an auctioneer living in The Friary, Friern Lane, Whetstone, Friern Barnet, with his wife, their three daughters, together with a cook, a parlourmaid, a coachman , the coachman's wife and their daughter.
Probate records confirm that he died, aged 75 years, on 3 December 1908. His address was shown as 27 Alexandra Park Road, Muswell Hill, Middlesex (now Greater London) and his death was registered in the 4th quarter of 1908 in the Edmonton registration district, Middlesex. Probate was granted to his daughter Eliza Aimée Richardson on 22 February 1909 and his effects totalled £11,908-18-8d.
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