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Richard Hansford Worth

English civil engineer and geologist

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ84732667 ↗
Source-derived summary

Richard Hansford Worth (5 November 1868 – 11 November 1950) of Plymouth, Devon was a civil engineer, geologist, archaeologist and writer on Dartmoor. He was the author of numerous papers published by the Devonshire Association some of which became the basis of the book Worth’s Dartmoor published posthumously.

Early life

R. Hansford Worth was the son of Lydia Amelia Davies and the geologist, antiquarian and historian Richard Nicholls Worth. He was educated at Plymouth High School for Boys (later called Plymouth College). After leaving school he joined the engineering staff at Great Western Railway at Paddington. He returned to Plymouth in 1890 and set up in private practise as a civil engineer. In 1907 Worth married Miss Annie E. Kingwell of South Brent.

Worth adopted many of the interests of his father including a passion for geology, archaeology and Dartmoor. He was a founding member of the Marine Biological Society, a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Mineralogical Society, and a fellow of the Geological Society of London.

He joined the Plymouth Institution in 1888 and he shortly afterwards presented his first paper to them on Early Western Railways.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Richard Hansford Worth” as english civil engineer and geologist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Richard, Hansford and Worth.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1868, 1950, 1890, 1907—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1868. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Richard, Hansford and Worth providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Richard Hansford Worth”, the useful work is to connect “english civil engineer and geologist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

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 Jan 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q84732667. VIAF identifies the subject as 19296226. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1868, 1950, 1890 and 1907.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. 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
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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 Hansford Worth”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Richard Hansford Worth primary sources, Richard Hansford Worth 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

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Richard Hansford Worth” 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.