He enlisted as a volunteer in the 1st Cuirassiers of the Guard and was sent to the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort (National Veterinary School of Alfort) as a military student.
[1] From 1832 Richard was a member of the Republican Society of the Rights of Man (Société des droits de l'homme).
[1] During the government of General Louis-Eugène Cavaignac (28 June 1848 to 20 December 1848) he was rapporteur of the agriculture and farm credit committee of the Assembly.
Richard noted that cultivators had long been neglected by previous regimes, and presented the project as a great revolutionary measure.
[2] Richard was re-elected for Cantal in the Legislative Assembly on 13 May 1849, sitting with the Democratic minority.
On 1 June 1863 he ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for election to the second district of Cantal.