John Richards Jr, a 74-year-old Irishman, has recently discovered he has family in the UK that he never knew existed. John’s father, John Joseph Alfred Richards, left the family twice, first in 1952 and then again in 1974, never making contact with them again. His son always suspected that his father had started a new family in the UK and was tormented by thoughts that his father had another family to care for. A genealogist was consulted, and expert research from birth and death records found evidence that John’s father died in Surrey in England in 2009. Records indicate he not only had a wife in England but also five children, three half-brothers, and two half-sisters.
The family is shocked that John’s father lived until the age of 87 and lived for 35 years in the UK without attempting to make contact with his Irish children. John is determined to find out what happened to his father, and he hopes to lay to rest his suspicions that his father had a second family. John’s father, John Joseph Alfred Richards, was born in Wales in 1922, and he was raised by Mary Byrne at Avon Cottage in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow. John Sr joined the Defence Forces as a private on September 25 1946, and he was compassionately discharged on March 17 1948, one month after marrying Sheila in Fermoy, County Cork.
John’s father’s abandonment caused great distress to his mother, who died heartbroken in 1983. John lost contact with his father again in 1974 when he left the family home with a suitcase. The only information John had after his father’s departure was a letter addressed to him from a woman in the UK stating that if John Sr didn’t return to the UK immediately, his seven-year-old daughter would be put on a ferry to his Fermoy address. John said that at this stage in his life, he would love to find out what happened to his father and meet his half-sisters and half-brothers in the UK.
John, with his wife Mary ‘Nell’ Richards, battled ill-health over recent years, but he was determined to fulfill his decades-old ambition to discover what happened to his father. An article published in the Irish Independent last February sparked a search that traced his vanished father back to the UK. Nell said the newspaper article was followed up by an RTÉ Radio One team as part of a documentary, and it is hoped that a future meeting can be arranged between the families. Direct contact between the families has not yet been made, but John and Nell hope it will soon be possible.
In conclusion, John Richards Jr’s search for his father’s second family in the UK has finally come to fruition. After years of wondering about the whereabouts of his father, he has discovered his father lived in the UK for 35 years without making contact with his Irish children and fathered three half-brothers and two half-sisters. Although John Richards Sr abandoned his family twice, John Jr wishes to find out what happened to his father and meet his half-siblings in the UK.
