Misplaced Pages

John Gardiner Richards Jr.
96th Governor of South Carolina
In office January 18, 1927 – January 20, 1931
Lieutenant	Thomas Bothwell Butler
Preceded by	Thomas Gordon McLeod
Succeeded by	Ibra Charles Blackwood
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Kershaw County
In office January 10, 1899 – January 10, 1911
Personal details
Born	(1864-09-11)September 11, 1864 Liberty Hill, South Carolina, C.S.A.
Died	October 9, 1941(1941-10-09) (aged 77) Liberty Hill, South Carolina

John Gardiner Richards Jr. (September 11, 1864 – October 9, 1941) was the 96th Governor of South Carolina from 1927 to 1931.

Biography

He was born in Liberty Hill, South Carolina, on September 11, 1864, to John G. Richards and Sophia Edwards Smith.

He attended schools in Liberty Hill and North Carolina's Bingham Military Institute for a short time.

In 1898, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. In 1910, he was appointed as the South Carolina Railroad Commissioner.

The South Carolina Constitution had been amended in 1926 to give the governor a four-year term, and Richards became the first South Carolina governor elected for a four-year term. His time as governor was noted for his strict observance of Blue laws, even chastising golfers for playing on Sunday.

He died on October 9, 1941, in Liberty Hill, South Carolina.

References

1. From Walter Edgar's South Carolina: A History, p. 484:

External links

• SCIway Biography of Governor John Gardiner Richards
• South Carolina Encyclopedia Biography of Governor John Gardiner Richards
• Letter written in 1926 by John G. Richards

v t e Governors of South Carolina
J. Rutledge Lowndes J. Rutledge Mathews Guerard Moultrie T. Pinckney C. Pinckney Moultrie Vanderhorst C. Pinckney E. Rutledge Drayton J. Richardson P. Hamilton C. Pinckney Drayton Middleton Alston D. Williams A. Pickens Geddes Bennett Wilson Manning I Taylor Miller J. Hamilton Hayne McDuffie Butler Noble Henagan Richardson II Hammond Aiken Johnson Seabrook Means J. Manning Adams Allston Gist F. Pickens Bonham Magrath Perry Orr Scott Moses Chamberlain Hampton Simpson Jeter Hagood Thompson Sheppard Richardson III Tillman Evans Ellerbe McSweeney Heyward Ansel Blease Smith Manning III Cooper Harvey McLeod Richards Blackwood Johnston Maybank Harley Jefferies Johnston R. Williams Thurmond Byrnes Timmerman Hollings Russell McNair West Edwards Riley Campbell Beasley Hodges Sanford Haley McMaster

• 1864 births
• 1941 deaths
• Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives
• Democratic Party governors of South Carolina
• University of South Carolina trustees
• People from Kershaw County, South Carolina
• 19th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly
• 20th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly