People Australia

William David Glanllyn (Glyn or Glynn) Richards (1902-1980) miner, engine driver, trade union official and Communist

Birth. 19 May 1902 at Glannlyn, Taff's Well, near Cardiff, South Wales, United Kingdom, son of David Richards and Mary, née Williams. Marriage: 1926 at Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, to native-born Mary Ellen Crampton (1904-2001). They had two daughters and three sons. Death: 12 July 1980 at Kurri Kurri district hospital; usual residence Wermol Street, Kurri Kurri.   

• Described as a miner when he arrived Australia aboard the Largs Bay on 22 December 1924 as a single man. Worked as an engine cleaner, Kurri Kurri, a fireman and later engine driver at J. & A. Brown and Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd, Richmond Vale Railways, Kurri-Kurri from about 1925 until about 1962 (retired).
• Chairman, sub-branch of the Federated Engine Drivers’ and Firemen’s Association of Australasia (FEDFA) in 1934-37 and secretary of the local branch from 1938 to 1942. State Organiser, FEDFA, from 1942-47.
• Was a member of the Communist Party of Australia. Visited Russia representing the Militant Minority Movement in 1930. Contested seat of Upper Hunter for the CPA in June 1931.
• Joined anti-eviction picketing campaigns during the Depression years. Joined demonstration of burning so-called Dole Questionnaire in NSW.
• Cause of death: exhaustion, coma (36 hours) and Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (1 year).

Sources
Common Cause, 16 June 1962, p 7.