Frederick Henry Rich

Col. Frederick Henry Rich (8 March 1824 – 22 August 1904) was a British soldier, who served with the Royal Engineers and was the Chief Inspecting Officer of the Railway Inspectorate between 1885 and 1889. He investigated many of the major railway accidents in the late 19th century, including those at Staplehurst in 1865, in which the author Charles Dickens was involved, and at Norton Fitzwarren in 1890.

Rich was born on 8 March 1824 at Woodlands, Castleconnell near Limerick in Ireland, the son of John Sampson Rich (1789–1880) and Amelia née Whitfield (1801–1883).

Gentleman Cadet Frederick Henry Rich joined the Corps of Royal Engineers as a Second Lieutenant on 11 January 1843. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 1 April 1846, to Second Captain on 17 February 1854 and to First Captain on 23 February 1856.

During his early years with the Royal Engineers he had various postings in England, including Chatham, Woolwich, Devonport and Dover. He was posted to Ireland for a year in 1845, before being posted to Canada and then to the West Indies from August 1847 to January 1851. Between April 1851 and May 1859 he returned to Ireland followed by two years in Malta.

In April 1861, he was seconded to the Board of Trade as an Inspector of Railways, remaining in this post until October 1872, when he spent the last four months before his retirement at the War Office.

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