Ronald Richmond was born 12th July 1906 in Manchester, England to Prudence and Harry Richmond.
The family, including Ron’s siblings Ivy and Edgar emigrated to Australia and in 1930 in Victoria Ron married Effie Isabel Armstrong.
In 1931 they had a daughter Joy Iolanthe Richmond who would later marry saxophonist Peter Clinch.
Ron appears in West Australian Symphony Orchestra printed programmes from 1955.
COMPOSER IS PROVOCATIVE – February 21, 1956 – By “Fidelio”
A West Australian composer, James Penberthy, offered us last night what in some ways the most adventurous Australian composition so far heard in the Art Gallery programmes.
This includes, notably, his medium of expression; a wind quintet consisting of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and two bassoons. For this unusual combination Mr Penberthy had produce a work in short, linked movements, based on the music and life of Australian aborigines. He obtained interesting effects in the way of atmosphere and drastic colourings, but his score sounded very fragmentary. It seemed often to be hovering uncertainly between outright imitative realism and the freer imaginative flight which, we felt, should not convincingly emerge. Another unusual inclusion was a set of three nicely fanciful songs for soprano and flute (no piano) by John Gordon, the words being taken from Chinese. The rest was chiefly light music, generally pretty in a conventional style. There were two pieces for flute and piano by A.C. Black (a West Australian), clarinet and piano pieces by Dulcie Holland and Moneta Eagles, songs by Horace Keats and Elizabeth Mills.
The performers were Sylvia Biddle (soprano), Owen Fisenden (flute), Jack Harrison (clarinet), Neil Pierson (horn), Ron Richmond (oboe), George Dreyfus and Claude Welling (bassoons) and Phyllis Allen (accompanist).
WASO Capitol Theatre 1958
In 1964 Joy Cummins was appointed second oboe in the WASO in 1964 when Ron Richmond had to retire due to ill health and Peter Randall was appointed Principal Oboe.
Ron died in Perth on 20th January 1969 aged 62.