Posting in Africa
Promoted to captain on 6 February 1866, Richards was given command of the Indian troopship HMS Jumna in 1870 and then took charge of HMS Devastation, the first steam turret battleship without no sail power, in June 1873. He took the Devastation to join the Mediterranean Fleet in 1874 and became Commodore and senior officer on the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station with his broad pendant in the corvette HMS Boadicea in October 1878. When he arrived at the Cape the Anglo–Zulu War was underway and the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana had just happened: Richards proceeded up the east coast of Africa and landed with a small naval brigade which he led at the Battle of Gingindlovu and the Siege of Eshowe in April 1879. He was appointed Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen on 15 June 1879 and a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 27 November 1879. He also took part in the Battle of Laing's Nek in January 1881 during the First Boer War and was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 24 May 1881.
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