Page 26 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

62 Rev. Alexander ALLARDYCE (1883-1925) (Elected 20.11.1922; died 11.3.1925 aged only 41
whilst still a member.) Congregational Minister. Pastor at the King Street
Congregational Church from 1922 until his sudden death. He was born in
Aberdeen, attended the Robert Gordon College and Aberdeen University
where he gained the degrees of BA and BD. Then in 1907 he went to
Yorkshire United Independent College, Bradford, to train for the ministry.
In 1912, even before completing his studies, he was invited to be minister
at Rugby Congregational Church and was formally ordained as pastor the
following year. In 1916 he became priest in charge of Arley Chapel, Bristol.
He was there for six years, interrupted by 12 months War service in France
with the YMCA during 1918, before coming to Dudley. He gained an MA degree from Bristol
University in 1924. At each of his ministries he was described as a most popular man and
regarded as a most eloquent extempore speaker.

63 Percy Grayburn RICHARDSON (1883-1954) (Elected 20.11.1922; resigned 19.9.1927.)
Pharmaceutical chemist. Proprietor of Richardson’s Central Drug Store and Opticians in Dudley
Market Place, a long-established family business which he joined straight from school and soon
took over from his widowed mother. As well as being a qualified dispensing pharmacist he sold
proprietary medicines such as Richardson’s Liver & Stomach Mixture ‘if your tongue is coated or
you suffer from pains between the shoulder blades’, and Richardson’s Pink Pectoral for those
who are ‘kept awake half the night through a nasty tickling in the throat’. Around 1936 he
moved the business to New Street and opened a branch in Upper Gornal. Originally he lived
over the Market Place shop but latterly moved to Wall Heath.

64 Arthur Reginald TANFIELD (1888-1969) (Associate Member elected 20.11.1922; resigned
2.11.1925.) - He applied to join the club as a full member as Commissioner for Oaths but Rotary
International decided this was not a classification distinct from Solicitor. He therefore joined as
an Associate Member in the classification Building Society Secretary, having been recently
appointed Joint Secretary of Dudley Building Society with his father Thomas W Tanfield (a
founder member of the Rotary Club, #38). When his father retired in March 1937 Reginald
became Secretary of the Society in his own right and continued until 1953. However his main
profession was as a solicitor, partner in the firm of Tanfield & Tanfield - later just Tanfield & Co.
- of Fountain Arcade Chambers.
Born in Dudley (on the site of the Fountain Arcade) he was educated at Wolverley School,
then served his articles first under Arthur George MP and later under A M Fairbairn, solicitor
(another founder member of the club, #7, who was to become his partner). During the first War
he served with the 3rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, seeing action in France and Belgium.
In the second War he was Commanding Officer of the Local Defence Volunteers and Dudley
Home Guard until the end of 1942, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He continued to
practise as a solicitor until retiring just 2 months before his death. On his death he shared what
would be a fortune in today’s money between past employees and friends: ‘He tried to
remember everyone’. He was a prominent member of Dudley Cricket Club and a generous
donor to local churches and to Dudley Sea Cadet Corps.