Introduction

Biography

Samuel was the son of Tho­mas Rick­ards of Lei­ces­ter.

He ma­tri­cu­lat­ed at Ori­el Col­lege, Ox­ford, on Jan­ua­ry 28, 1813, gra­du­at­ing BA in 1817 and MA in 1820. He was a fel­low there 1819–22, and a con­tem­po­rary of John Ke­ble, among oth­ers.

He was New­di­gate prize­man in 1815, writ­ing on the Tem­ple of The­se­us, took se­cond class Class­ic­al Hono­rs in 1817, and was Eng­lish es­say­ist in 1819, writ­ing on Char­ac­ter­is­tic Dif­fer­enc­es of Greek and La­tin Po­et­ry.

Rickards’ mar­riage in 1821 obliged him to sur­ren­der his fel­low­ship and seek a liv­ing. From 1822–32 he was cur­ate in charge of Ul­combe, Kent.

John New­man, while vi­sit­ing him in Sep­tem­ber 1826, wrote his well-known vers­es, Na­ture and Art, and, dur­ing a se­cond vi­sit in Oc­to­ber 1827, Snap­dra­gon, a Rid­dle.

In 1832 Rick­ards was pre­sent­ed by a col­lege friend, Hen­ry Wil­son, to the rec­to­ry of Stow­lang­toft, Suf­folk, where he spent the rest of his life.

Rickards part­ed com­pa­ny with the Ox­ford move­ment ear­ly on, and wrote ex­pos­tu­la­to­ry and warn­ing let­ters to Ke­ble and New­man.

He was ne­ver­the­less in­stru­ment­al in the pub­li­ca­tion of Keble’s The Chris­tian Year, a dup­li­cate ma­nu­script co­py of which was lent to him by Ke­ble, and, when Ke­ble’s own co­py was lost in Wales, it was Rick­ards’ co­py that was print­ed.

Rickards had a re­pu­ta­tion as a sound theo­lo­gian of high char­ac­ter, and ma­ny of his cler­ic­al breth­ren looked up to him for coun­sel and guid­ance in the con­tro­ver­sies by which his times were marked.

Works

• Hymns for Pri­vate De­vo­tion for the Sun­days and Saints’ Days (Lon­don: Hatch­ards, 1825)
• A Par­ish Pray­er-Book
• The Chris­tian House­hold­er, or Guide to Fa­mi­ly Pray­er, 1830
• Poems, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in 1870