But then, that's exactly why he chose it.
A Rare Survival, which has taken Richard six years to research and complete, charts the fascinating history of Halifax's Loyal Georgean Society, founded over 300 years ago and still going strong today.
"The society is a rare survivor from among the thousands of local friendly societies that flourished in Britain at the end of the 18th century," says Richard.
"Its survival into the 21st century makes it an exception. While the friendly society phenomenon was generally successful, the number of independent societies gradually dwindled as some suffered financial collapse, others became branches of the affiliated societies that evolved in the 19th century and more were dissolved as the legislative burden on them overcame their limited resources."
And it is not just the survival of the Loyal Georgean Society itself which is rare, he adds.
The fact that its membership records and minute books (a total of 42 volumes dating back to the first days) have also survived, is also momentous, says Richard.
For it is this collection that has enabled him to complete his painstaking research for the book.
The origins of the Loyal Georgean Society date from 1779, the year Captain James Cook died on his third and final voyage and the American Revolutionary War was raging.
It began in February, a month after Halifax's Piece Hall was officially opened and, says Richard, the fact that at least nine of the 13 founder members were master workmen in various building trades, was probably no coincidence – they were more than likely contractors in the Piece Hall's construction.
Richard explains why the society adopted the spelling of Geor-gean with an e instead of an i.
"The spelling devised by members of the society in 1793 could be an interesting lexicographic footnote. It predates the general usage of the familiar 'Georgian', defined as 'belonging to the time of the Georges as Kings of Britain' by some 60 years," he says.
"The society would have been set up to help those who may have suffered financial loss through ill-health or sickness or event to provide a decent burial for someone whose descendants may not have been able to afford one," he says.
In the beginning members agreed to assist one another when "lameness, sickness, disease, indisposition of old age" rendered them incapable of working at their respective trades.
According to early eligibility clauses, prospective members had to be master craftsman – later these were amended to include men earning annual salaries of not less than £40.
By 1819, when membership had reached 200, attorneys, craftsmen, card-makers, clergymen, grocers, merchants, wool-combers, schoolmasters and papermarkers among others, had been admitted.
Heading the list of subscribers was Thomas Rawlinson, owner of a plumbing business at the corner of Northgate and Gaol Lane, while the second subscriber was James Green, innkeeper of the Sign of The Church and the man long celebrated as the society's founder, says Richard.
"For an innkeeper to be involved with the founding of a friendly society was in no way unusual, not least because its meetings brought in an element of regular trade."
But Green was more than just an innkeeper – a 1925 newspaper article profiling him reveals that he was also a builder, involved with the erection of the old Square Chapel and the Shay, among others.
The Sign of the Church was later to be renamed the Ring O' Bells when James and friends raised the money to buy the last bell for the neighbouring Halifax Parish Church and enable it to acquire its full peal.
The Ring O' Bells, which was to be the meeting place for the society up until around 1795, was not the only pub used as headquarters. The Old Cock in Halifax was home to the Loyal Georgeans for 164 years.
Richard, originally from Bradford and now living in Lightcliffe, has written the book in response to a request by members of the society, who now meet monthly at the White Swan.
It has been financed by Calderdale businessman Tony Gartland and the Gartland Family Trust with proceeds now benefiting Overgate Hospice.
"I have written a number of articles before for the Halifax Antiquarian Society and this book really led on from a thesis about friendly societies that I wrote while studying for an MA at the University of Leeds," says Richard who spent 33 years in the merchant navy.
He says he is indebted to fellow Loyal Georgeans for their encouragement and assistance with research, as well as staff at the West Yorkshire Archive Service and Calderdale Reference Library – and Dr John Hargreaves, vice-president of Halifax Antiquarian Society and chairman of Halifax Civic Trust, who has also written the foreword.
As a result, the book now charts the growth and changes of the society from its beginnings more than three centuries ago, to its present day membership.
l A Rare Survival: The Loyal Georgean Society of Halifax, 1779-2009, is available at Fred Wade, Halifax.