He had been three times mentioned in despatches, besides receiving a brevet and many medals and clasps.

He was at this time sixty-six years of age, but, like the great soldier who recommended him to Ulster, he was an active little man both in body and mind, with no symptom of approaching old age.
General Richardson was not long in making himself popular, not only with the force under his command, but with all classes in Ulster.

There were unavoidable difficulties in handling troops whose officers had no statutory powers of discipline, who had inherited no military traditions, and who formed part of a population conspicuously independent in character.

But Sir George Richardson was as full of tact as of good humour, and he soon found that the keenness of the officers and men, to whom dismissal from the U.V.F.would have been the severest of punishments, more than counterbalanced the difficulties referred to.
When the new G.O.C.went to Belfast in July, 1913, he found his command between fifty and sixty thousand strong, with recruits joining every day.

In September a number of parades were held in different localities, at which the General was accompanied by Sir Edward Carson, Mr.F.E.
Smith, Captain James Craig, and other Members of Parliament.