Paul Andre Richmond was born on 20 August 1943 and passed away on 6 February 2024, having reached the age of 80 years.
Paul went to Riverside Primary School and joined Emanuel in the autumn of 1954. He was a member of Howe and in October 1961 was its House Captain. He left school in July 1962.
Paul was in the science stream and did his A levels in Pure Maths, Applied Maths, and Physics. It came as no surprise that he ended up as an accountant. He was also awarded a prize for German in the 1st year of 6th form.
In February 1961, he was made house prefect and then school prefect in July 1962, shortly before leaving. He was initially Secretary of Tennis, winning half colours, and in his last year of school, became Captain of Tennis.
1st Tennis IV, 1961, Paul is first on the left
He competed at a high level in a period when the school was very strong in tennis. He played for the 1st VI for 3 years which was exceptional and had many victories in competitions such as the Glanville Cup. He played as 1st pair for two of those years playing with two other exceptionally good players, Keith Bennett and David Wood, both of whom are sadly no longer with us. His talent at tennis was spotted as early as the 4th year. The school magazine in that year reported that there “was considerable promise in relation to the future of tennis at the school with the two finds of the season being Paul Richmond and his tennis partner Keith Bennett.”
Paul is back row, first on the right
Paul and I were in the same year at school and played tennis for the school together. We were also members of the same tennis club outside school. We joined the Gardens Lawn Tennis Club which was just down the road from the All-England Club; it was created in between the gardens of two roads of houses back-to-back. Having started after the 1st World War, it was a colonial style club house with 6 good quality shale courts in a line. With a high standard of players, they encouraged the juniors to play with adults, so it was a great place to improve one’s tennis either with the adults or playing against one another.
Paul is front row, centre
Paul and another under-18 from the tennis club played open junior tennis tournaments together. They got to the semi final of the London Evening News U18 doubles tennis tournament, which would have had entries from across London and the Home Counties.
There was also a table tennis table in the clubhouse where we could play after our tennis matches, or if it was wet outside. There were some very good table tennis players there and the Club had a team in Division1 of the Wandsworth league. In the autumn of 1962, the existing players in that table tennis team decided en bloc not to be available to play. The Club decided to ask Paul, another junior, and me to play rather than withdraw the team. Although we got beaten in every match, it was nonetheless a good experience.
On Sunday afternoons in the winter, after tennis there was a group of members who played Solo Whist and occasionally, when they were short of players, we were invited to play with them. There were some very good card players there, some of whom played bridge for the County and one went on to international honours at bridge. So that’s where Paul improved his tennis and developed his skill and love of bridge at the same time.
Paul had a memorable youth which stood him in good stead for his later life.
After Paul had finished school, he trained to be an accountant and first worked for his father, Andre Richmond. He then became a corporate accountant working for Bookers, Keith and Henderson Bowling’s, and Singer. He was a BMW financial controller, ending up as Saab’s Finance Director and Deputy MD. He was involved with Paragon Housing and did finance for Perennial Gardner’s Royal Benevolent Society, helping people in horticulture. He went on to Rentstart where he helped to house the homeless.
Away from work, he was a first team tennis player for West Byfleet and St George’s Hill Tennis club for many years. In fact, he was a life member of the latter and board member for four years. Added to this, he was a member of Burhill Golf Club for thirty five years and enjoyed playing bridge at both clubs.
He was married to Angela for 32 years and is survived by four children from his first marriage: Mark, Deborah, Sonia, and Michelle.
Paul and I had a lifelong friendship which started with our time at Emanuel School and continued thereafter with our shared interests in tennis and golf.
John Ainsworth (OE1954 – 61)