Thomas Dow "Tyke" Richardson

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(16 January 1887 – 7 January 1971) was a British competitive

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

, author and judge. With his wife, Mildred Richardson, he represented

Great Britain at the 1924 Winter Olympics The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed as Great Britain at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France. Based on medal count, this was Great Britain's best ever performance at a Winter Olympic Games until the 2014 game ...

, where they placed 8th. He was elected to the

World Figure Skating Hall of Fame The World Figure Skating Hall of Fame serves as a repository for the sport of figure skating. The World Figure Skating Hall of Fame is where the greatest names in the history of the sport are honored. It is located at the Broadmoor Resort in Co ...

posthumously in 1976.

Personal life

Richardson was born in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and died in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was educated at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

where he was an outstanding oarsman and boxer, and was married to his former ice skating partner Mildred "Wag" Allingham, who survived him on his death. He served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, attaining the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Competitive career

He first learned the English style of skating, but was soon attracted to the International Style, to which he contributed greatly throughout his life. He took lessons from Bernard Adams, the first great British skating teacher of the International Style, and from Bror Meyer of Sweden. He eventually earned his gold medal in the International Style and the bronze medal in the English Style. T.D Richardson first took to the ice in 1891 at the age of four, during the winter known as 'the great frost'. He began skating pairs in 1911 with his future wife, Mildred Allingham, and together they made a substantial contribution to the development of modern

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating ...

, particularly in the unique form of "mirror" or shadow skating. After active service in

on the Western Front, Richardson resumed competing with his wife. They were the 1923 British silver medalists and competed at the 1924 Winter Olympic Games.

Judging and publishing career

The Richardsons became active judges, both reaching the rank of

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...

(ISU) Championship (World) Judge. They also served as referees and judged many national and international championships. Richardson was a judge at the 1927 World Figure Skating Championships and 1928 Winter Olympic Games. He was also instrumental in obtaining the adoption by the

of a rule limiting a country to one judge in each event in which it has entries. During the 1920s, Richardson carried out the research that culminated in his famous book, ''Modern Figure Skating'', first published in 1930. This book represented his revolutionary concept of the "''Theory of the Sixteen Positions''" in

compulsory figures Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For ...

. It was a fundamental and practical approach to the execution of

, which remained valid for many decades. He went on to write ten more books, of which ''The Art of Figure Skating'', published in 1962, reflected the mature development of his theories about

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

. He was the definitive reporter of the sport for many years as correspondent for

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

of London and Skating World magazine. Richardson long advocated the addition of new compulsory figures to the International schedule and established the Star Class Test in England, including the new compulsory figures. His proposals never gained international acceptance, however, a factor that contributed to the eventual disappearance of compulsory figures from international competition. In 1958 Richardson founded the Commonwealth Winter Games in

St Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and served as chairman of the Games until his death. The Richardsons served the National Skating Association (now the

National Ice Skating Association British Ice Skating (formerly the National Ice Skating Association) is the national governing body of ice skating within the United Kingdom. Formed in 1879, it is responsible for overseeing all disciplines of ice skating: figure skating (sing ...

) of Great Britain in many capacities. Richardson was chairman of the Ice Figure Committee of the NSA for 11 years and was vice chairman of the NSA Council. He and his wife were elected to honorary life membership of the NSA in 1967, and

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

appointed him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to British skating in the

1955 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1955 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1955 to celebra ...

.UK list: On his death in 1971,

Cecilia Colledge Magdalena Cecilia Colledge (28 November 1920 – 12 April 2008) was a British figure skater. She was the 1936 Olympic silver medalist, the 1937 World Champion, the 1937–1939 European Champion, and a six-time (1935–1939, 1946) British ...

, the great British, European and World Champion skater said of him: "He acted always for what he knew was right. He would not submerge his principles in order to be popular. He would not compromise in order to be elected. He would not curb his independent courage. He served skating."

References

External links

History of the National Ice Skating Association
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Thomas 1887 births 1971 deaths British Army personnel of World War I British male pair skaters Figure skaters at the 1924 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for Great Britain Officers of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from York Alumni of the University of Cambridge Royal Army Service Corps officers Figure skating judges

Personal life

Competitive career

Judging and publishing career

Further reading

References

External links