KILLED IN ACTION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17861, 6 August 1918, Page 7

KILLED IN ACTION.

■■♦ — CANTERBURY RHODES SCHOLAR. DEATH OF LIEUTENANT H. S. RICHARDS ON WESTERN FRONT. Very deep sympathy will be felt for Mr S. H. Richards, of tho Crown Clothing Company, of Christchurch, in the death of his son, Lieutenant H. S. Richards, who was reported killed in action on August 1, aged twenty-four. Lieutenant Richards, who was serving latterly in the Royal Air Force, was one of the most brilliant graduates of Canterbury College, and was the first Now Zealand Rhodes Scholar selected from Canterbury. Lieutenant Richards was selected as Now Zealand Rhodes Scholar on November 14, 1914. lie went to England in the following July, and sat for his Responsions examination at Oxford, and passed. Directly afterwards he enlisted in the Essex Regiment, 12th Infantry Battalion. -He was sent over to France on July 13, 1916, and took part in the Battle of the Somme, being wounded on September 26. He was in hospital for thirteen months, and on his discharge he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps- He underwent a course of training at Yatesbury, in Wiltshire, and from there was transferred to an aerodrome, where he completed his flying course. According to information received in Christchurch he was sent to France in May last, and it is probable that he was killed while .flying.. Lieutenant Richards was extremely popular, not only among the students, but also among . the staff of Canterbury College, and on March 6, 1915, shortly before his departure for Oxford, he was presented with a substantial purse of sovereigns, a set of books and a fountain pen at the hands of Sir John Denniston, chairman of a Citizens Committee set up for tho purpose of recognising the honour Mr Richards had brought to Canterbury. In making the presentation Sir John Denniston said that the year's Rhodes Scholar had succeeded against a strong body of candidates. Mr Richards's record was a splendid one, and Professor Gabbatt had expressed himself confident that Mr Richards would obtain firstclass honours in the M.A. degree examination, and the results had proved the correctness of that anticipation. Mr Richards had taken first-class honours in mathematics and mathematical physics, and had also gained the Cook prize,, which was given to the most distinguished honours graduate of the New Zealand University in pure and applied mathematics. He had done credit to his school, college and province, and they trusted and believed that in tho future he would add to his laurels. .The late Lieutenant Richards was an old pupil of Rangiora High School, having received five years of his secondary education at that school. Before he left for England he was entertained at a gathering at the school, and received a watch pendant as a parting gift fronihis schoolmates.

Tho late Lieutenant Richards, with his father, was an active member of the New Zealand Rationalist Association, being on the general committee of the local branch of the organisation. On June 29, 1915, prior to his departure for England, he was the recipient of a presentation tit a social gathering given in his honour.