Rickard's parents were British, and he became a mining engineer practising in the United States, Europe and Australia.
His grandfather was a Cornish miner, Captain James Rickard.
[3] His cousin Tom Rickard was mayor of Berkeley, California at the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.
[2] In 1882 Rickard entered the Royal School of Mines, London from which he graduated in 1885.
[1] Rickard died in Oak Bay, British Columbia on 15 August[1] 1953.