Researching Richard Savage

In his youth in San Francisco, Savage studied engineering and law, and graduated from the United States Military Academy. After a few years of surveying work with the Army Corps of Engineers, Savage went to Rome as an envoy following which he sailed to Egypt to serve a stint with the Egyptian Army. Returning home, Savage was assigned to assess border disputes between the U.S. and Mexico, and he performed railroad survey work in Texas. In Washington D.C., he courted and married a widowed noblewoman from Germany.

Savage returned to San Francisco with his wife to stay for ten years, raising a daughter and taking part in a family business. He served at the rank of colonel in the California National Guard, and took part in the social activity of the city. During a period of anti-Chinese race riots, Savage stood up for law and order, and thereby gained the respect of San Francisco's leaders, property holders and middle class residents. Savage traveled to many exotic lands but in 1890 he was struck with jungle fever in Honduras. While recuperating in New York state he wrote his first book: My Official Wife. This very successful action-and-adventure story was followed by more, at the rate of about three per year, written for the general public rather than for literary critics; the latter were charmed by the first book but scathing of many later ones. Savage lived primarily in New York City, and was involved in lawsuits, especially against his New York publisher regarding unpaid royalties.

When the Spanish–American War broke out, Savage volunteered to lead men in battle. Instead, he was given command of an engineering unit which then built a complete base in Havana. Returning to New York, he wrote more books and corresponded with his wife who traveled often to the Russian Empire to visit their daughter and her Russian husband. Four years after mustering out of the Army, Savage was knocked down and mortally wounded at the age of 57 by a horse and carriage on the streets of New York.

Savage was born in London. He was educated at Marlborough College and at Pembroke College, Oxford. He took 50 wickets with right-arm medium-pace off-cutters and off-breaks for Warwickshire's second eleven in 1975 before going to Oxford University. He was in the Oxford University cricket team for three years, playing each season in the University Match and he also played in the Combined Universities team which competed in the Benson and Hedges Cup List A competition. In 1976, he played as well for the Oxford and Cambridge Universities side that took on the touring West Indies team. For Oxford against Sussex in 1976, he took six wickets for 66 in the first innings and six for 33 in the second to finish with 12 for 99, the best match figures of his career and the best figures by any bowler in a first-class match on the Pagham Cricket Club Ground.

In university holidays throughout his Oxford career, Savage turned out in occasional games for Warwickshire and in one of those, the 1977 game against Glamorgan, he took seven second innings wickets for 50 runs, the best innings performance of his career. Having left university in 1978, Savage had a single season as a full-time cricketer with Warwickshire in 1979, but was not successful, and left the first-class game. During his career, he once dismissed Viv Richards.

Savage is a teacher of English at Ardingly College, and taught at comprehensive schools in Bristol and Oxford for fifteen years before teaching at international schools in Belgium and the UK. He is married to Green Party MP Caroline Lucas; the couple have two adult sons.