Constituency : Aylesbury 1851-9, Wolverhampton 1859-61
Richard was a doctor's son from Wiltshire. He was educated at Oxford and became a barrister. He went on to become a judge, noted for a sarcastic sense of humour. He arrived in the Commons in 1851, conveniently in time to become Solicitor-General under Aberdeen. He moved on to Attorney-General in 1856, his most notable achievement being piloting the Divorce Act of 1857. He advised Palmerston that Bowring's case in China was legally weak and that he was not politically immortal. In the 1857 election he lined up with Palmerston telling his constituents the lack of progress in reform was not down to Palmerston but " the timid, hesitating men at his side, or at his back".He ended up defending the Conspiracy to Murder Bill although he intensely disliked it.
On Palmerston's return to power in 1859 Richard became Attorney-General once more after switching seats to Wolverhampton when Villiers' partner MP had to step down through ill health . In 1861 Lord Campbell, the Lord Chancellor died and Richard succeeded him, taking a peerage as Lord Westbury. His major achievement here was the Land Registry Act of 1863 though it proved unworkable in practice. He was also responsible for the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 which started the process of consolidating statute law by removing the obsolete. He was the only Cabinet member to fully back Palmerston and Russell's position over the Schleswig-Holstein crisis.
Richard was a rather cautious Liberal who claimed his middle class constituents were fearful of the effects of further parliamentary reform.
Shortly before the 1865 election Richard responded to parliamentary criticism of some of his appointments and a dubious pension award by resigning his office. He continued to sit in judicial proceedings of the Lords until his death in 1873 aged 73.
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