Richard began, early in his career, to take an interest in the peace question. In 1848 he was appointed secretary of the Peace Society, and went to Brussels to an international peace conference. In the succeeding years, he was active in the promotion of such conferences and the oversight of some of the Society's publications. He sought, too, to interpret Wales to the English; he wrote to the English press to explain the Rebecca Riots, and in 1866 published a series of letters upon the social and political condition of Wales. In 1865 he had come out as a Liberal candidate for Cardiganshire, but withdrew; in 1868 he was elected, by a large majority, Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil. He was, in Parliament, a firm upholder of Welsh and Nonconformist rights. In July 1873, too, he succeeded in carrying a motion in favour of international arbitration.

He was closely associated with the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and in 1880 was appointed a member of the departmental committee which was to enquire into the condition of intermediate and higher education in Wales and Monmouthshire. He was a strong opponent of State interference in religious matters. In Aug. 1866 he m. Matilda Augusta Farley, but they had no children. He d. at Treborth, near Bangor, 20 Aug. 1888, and was buried in Abney Park cemetery, London. There is a monument to him there, and a statue on the square at Tregaron.