Frederick Stuart Richardson was born in Bristol and after leaving school commenced training as a civil engineer in London. A legacy enabled him to abandon his career prospects in order to study art. In Paris, as a student of Carolus Duran, he met a large number of fellow students including John Singer Sargent, and future members of the Staithes Group.

On returning to England Richardson became an active member of the Staithes Group. When his colleague Laura KNIGHT and her husband Harold moved to Cornwall, he began painting there, and became associated with the Newlyn group of painters. Like them he favoured the practice of painting en plein air.

In Cornwall Richardson met his future wife, Elsie Reynolds. They married in 1912, and a year later settled in Bristol, where they had two children. His landscapes, coastal and genre scenes in oils and watercolours were exhibited widely throughout the UK. He normally signed his paintings F S Richardson or with the initials FSR, but left many unsigned. One of his watercolours is in the permanent collection of the Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston.

An exhibition of Richardson's work was held at Penlee House Museum in Penzance in 2017.