Richard was the oldest son of Henry Richins and Sarah Haynes. He had two older sisters, Sarah and Elizabeth, a younger sister, Meriam, and three younger brothers, Henry, William and Joseph.

Like most parents, Henry and Sarah wanted a son to carry on the family name and were delighted when their third child was a boy. They took him to the Painswick Church to be baptized and given the name of Richard. They were members of the Church of England and belonged to the Parish of Painswick, which included the village of Sheepscombe in Gloucestershire, England. The Church of England practiced infant baptism. The Vicar performed the baptism by sprinkling the baby’s head with water from the font, and giving him the name the parents had chosen. The date recorded in the Parish Register and Christening was March 26, 1800.

Richard’s father Henry, the youngest son in his family, did not have the opportunity to attend school. He could not read or write. This limited him to manual labor, while his older brother, Thomas, who attended school, was able to become an Overseer (one who supervises or manages an estate or large farm). Henry, knowing the value of schooling, apparently sent Richard to school, as I could find no place where he signed his name by marking an "X".

Richard lived with his parents on a large estate called Ebworth, where his father was employed as a farm laborer. Ebworth was located on the northern part of Sheepscombe. Although Henry and Sarah struggled to raise seven children on his meager wage, the children had happy memories of their home and childhood. The country was beautiful, with green hills and meadows covered with wild flowers. There were woods and streams where Henry and his sons spent happy hours hunting and fishing. They lived in a cottage that was built to lease to the farm workers. There was a garden spot and the commons, where they could pasture a few cattle and sheep. Their home was also next to the game park.

Henry VIII often hunted in the Sheepscombe forest, but over the years many of the trees were cut down and replaced by farmland. However a large game park was preserved for hunting and the enjoyment of the Royal Family and Gentry. The game park was jealously guarded by a gamekeeper to keep the public out and protect the game from poachers. Poaching increased during the depression as the unemployed sought food for their families. This caused strict laws to be passed. The gamekeeper was allowed to shoot a poacher caught in the act, but most gamekeepers preferred to turn them over to the law for prosecution. Poachers faced a fine as well as a prison term, which only brought hardship to their families. Some of the more compassionate of the Gentry allowed the poor to take rabbits from their game parks.

It was an exciting time at Ebworth when the Gentry’s carriages arrived for the fox hunt. Although the common people were not allowed to hunt, they did enjoy watching along the stone walls and hedges, which separated the game park from the fields. From their vantage points they could hear the dogs barking at the hunting lodge, anxious to get started. When the bugle sounded, they knew the hunt was on. First to come into view were the braying dogs on the scent of the fleeing fox, followed by the hunters in their red caps and coats jumping their horses over logs, stone walls, and hedges in order to keep up with the dogs and fox. When the hunters passed from view and the barking of the dogs grew faint, the people returned to their work.

The Richins boys were no doubt excited by these fox hunts. It could have been the topic of their conversation for weeks. They may have speculated on how to hunt without being caught. Their parents would have warned them to stay out of the game park, but he warning probably sounded on deaf ears as they began to formulate a plan. Snaring a few rabbits was tame in comparison to a real hunt. They would have to plan a hunt when the dogs were locked in their pens, as a pack of barking dogs would surely give them away.

Sometimes their plans probably worked and other times it was a case of outrunning a winded gamekeeper or barely escaping through a small opening in the hedge, marked previously for such an occasion. Once safe from the gamekeeper’s grasp and out of sound of his threats and warnings, they could laugh and enjoy the challenge. Richard, being the oldest, was probably the ringleader. Henry was two years younger and William, six years younger. Joseph was ten years younger and probably too young to join them. In their day there were too few opportunities to hunt and be mischievous boys because children were part of the labor force. Even small children were hired for a mere nothing to scare birds out of the gardens and orchards.