Richard Blackwood
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| Portrayed by | |
| Full Name | |
|---|---|
| Associated Noble House(s) | Barony Blackwood of Riverfort |
| Date of Birth | 10th December 1784 |
| Father | Theodore Blackwood |
| Father's Rank | Baron Blackwood of Riverfort |
| Mother | Constance Blackwood |
| Mother's Rank | Baroness Blackwood of Riverfort |
| Town Residence | |
| School | Eton |
| University | Oxford |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Richard Blackwood is the younger son of the previous Baron Blackwood of Riverfort and is a former character played by Aida.
Family
- Wife: Millicent Blackwood (née Thomas) – Born 1785.
- Daughter: Mary Blackwood – Born 1804.
- Son: Leonard Blackwood – Born 1806.
- Father: Theodore Blackwood, the 13th Baron Blackwood of Riverfort – Born 1744, deceased.
- Mother: Constance Blackwood (née Barnet), Dowager Baroness Blackwood – Born 1754.
- Brother: Theodore Blackwood, the 14th Baron Blackwood of Riverfort – Born 1774, (married to Sylvia Blackwood née Ruthyn)
- Brother: Joseph Blackwood – Born 1776.
- Sister: Valeria Alford (née Blackwood), Countess of Auckland – Born 1780, (widow of Peter Alford).
- Sister: Maud Blackwood – Born 1788, (engaged to Joseph Marcham).
- Maternal Aunt: Louisa Layton (née Barnet), The Dowager Countess Parry – Born 1759, (widow of Henry Layton I).
- Cousin: Catherine McAvoy (née Layton) – Born 1781, (widow of Lord Kirkfries).
- Cousin: Henry Layton, Earl Parry – Born 1783.
- Cousin: Phoebe Layton – Born 1787.
Background
The third son of Baron and Baroness Blackwood, Richard was raised as the typical gentleman’s son that he was, living his life quite happily without experiencing the discipline his two older brothers, the ailing heir and the heir-reserved, were subjected to. Not being in the centre of attention, his childhood hours were filled with relative freedom and mischief, and there was not a spot on their Warwickshire estate’s grounds that he had not explored thoroughly by the time he had to leave for boarding school.
At Eton, Richard made friends with like-minded individuals, now exercising his pranks in a gang, while having fun at the expense of anyone he and his friends could get their claws on. Later on, having decided to follow his paternal uncle’s footsteps, he attended Oxford, studying law. Life was just beginning to become much more fun! Until, that is, at nineteen he seduced a girl from the local gentry and ended up marrying her a month later. Any frustration he might have felt due to this unfortunate consequence, he kept hidden in public in order not to lose any more favours with his family and ruin his future more than he had already. Eight months and a half later, his first child was born, a daughter whom his wife named Mary.
After graduation, in 1805, Richard took up residence in London and began attending Gray's Inn with the intention to further develop his career in law and expanding the boundaries of his leisurely activities. Upon this change of location, his mother-in-law advised his wife that another child, preferably a son, was just the thing to keep her husband away from the city’s corruption, and as a result a year later Leonard was born. By 1808, Richard became a barrister and began a partnership with his uncle, a very successful barrister himself.