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Richard Mathias

British politician (1863-1942)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ7327688
Source-derived summary

Sir Richard Mathias, 1st Baronet (1 June 1863 – 26 October 1942) was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was elected at the December 1910 general election as member of parliament (MP) for Cheltenham, but was subsequently unseated on petition. His brother was the Liberal candidate at the resulting by-election in April 1911, but lost by four votes to the Conservative Party candidate, former MP Sir James Agg-Gardner.

He was knighted in 1913, and made a baronet in the 1917 Birthday Honours, of Vaendre Hall, Monmouthshire.

In 1918 he was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Monmouthshire and was Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1923. He resigned his Deputy Lieutenant commission in 1938.

In 1922 he contested the general election as an Independent candidate for Merthyr losing to the Labour candidate in a 2-way contest.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Richard Mathias” is british politician (1863-1942). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Richard, Mathias and British, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1863, 1942, 1910, 1911—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1863-06-01. For this dossier, Richard, Mathias and British is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “british politician (1863-1942)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7327688. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1863, 1942, 1910 and 1911.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Richard Mathias”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Richard Mathias primary sources, Richard Mathias archive and Richard research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Richard Mathias”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Richard Mathias” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.