Erwin Hart Richards

Erwin Hart Richards was born on May 4, 1851 in Orwell, Ohio. He received a BA from Oberlin College in 1877 and an MA in 1880. From 1880-1908 he and his family lived and worked as missionaries in Natal, South Africa, and Rhodesia, East Africa which is modern day Zimbabwe. Richards took the iniciative to learn the languages of the people that he was surrounded by, and it was with the Zulus of Rhodesia  that he began translating the Bible, first in Zulu, then later into Sheetswa, Tonga, and Tanganyika. He was awarded his Doctorate of Divinity for this work.

Richards made three different trips to the interior between 1881 and 1895. From 1881-84 he and his first wife Artemisia Beout spent time working among the Zulus in Natal, South Africa. During that time he was in charge of a mission and school in Inanda, Natal which flourished. Though he did successful work throughout Natal, he was more concerned with becoming familiar with the people than spreading the Christian word. The American Board was not convinced of the work he was doing so they sent Richards to Inhambane, East Africa to work under William Wilcox. 

Richards worked under the supervision of Wilcox for nearly two years before Wilcox resigned from the American Board and returned to Natal. Almost immediately the American Board headquarters began receiving detrimental reports of Richards’s conduct during the mission at Inhambane. it is believed that the letters had been written by William Wilcox, who stated that he had been having frictions with Richards, and may have been using these letters as a ploy to discredit Richards.

In 1889 Erwin’s wife Artemisia returned back to Natal so Erwin began working with two Zulu teachers, one of them being a young woman named Dalita. Richards had extramarital affairs with Dalita, but later on realized they were engaging in sinful activities so they ended things. In 1890 Erwin and his wife returned to the US for a forlorn and received a letter from Natal. The letter was an inquiry from the American Board about the circumstances of of Erwin’s relationship with Dalita, whom by this time had confessed to her actions. Richards was thusly forced to admit the indiscretion, and suffered much scrutiny from the Board. ABCFM offered to let him stay in the United States as a minister, but required Richards to resign from the foreign field. Throughout these series of events Artemisia defended Erwin, and her family stood by his side. 

Erwin resigned from ABCFM in 1890 and began lecturing and working with Bishop Taylor of the Free Methodists, who sponsored foreign on a self supporting basis. By 1893 the Board had abandoned Inhambane, so Richard bought the property to continue to build up the area. It was on that trip and during the rebuilding process that his wife died. 

At the turn of the century Richards returned to the United States and joined the United Methodists Board of Missions. He assumed Bishop Taylor’s work continued lecturing for funds. He became the national speaker on Africa for the Centenary of the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1910-1914. Erwin was made a life member of the American Bible Society in 1926 in recognition of translations of the Bible done in Sheetswa and Tonga languages.  After his return from Africa he married Carrie Duncanson in 1897, who died soon after. His third wife Mary McClellard (1903-) stayed with him until his death in 1928.