Richard was born in the Coastguard House at Muchalls (now 11 Marine Terrace) on the 26th December 1841. His father, Richard Brunton, was the Chief Coastguard Officer at Muchalls, a retired Naval Officer, and a writer of sea stories. His mother was Margaret Telford from the Parish of Crimond.

In 1856 he became an apprentice engineering assistant with John Willet of Aberdeen. After completing his apprenticeship, he was engaged in the construction of railways and bridges in the Scottish Highlands, then the London & South-west Railway, and the Midland Railway.

1865 was an important year in his life, in that he married Elizabeth Charlotte Wauchope in St. Martin in the Fields, Middlesex, and his future career opened up when the Japanese Government decided to establish lighthouses at the approaches to Yokohama, Tokyo, Kobe and Osaka to allow foreign shipping safe access to the ports.

In 1868 he was elected an Associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers, who recommended him to the Board of Trade as a suitable person for the Japanese project. By August of that year he arrived at Yokohama with his wife, two Assistant Engineers and some equipment - the first foreign engineer to be invited to Japan

His first step was to survey the 1500 miles of uncharted coast, and 36 sites were chosen for lighthouses, which were constructed during the following 9 years. Richard’s greatest problem initially was that masons, bricklayers and blacksmiths were almost unknown in that country. Brick-making was something relatively new in Japan, and the quality of bricks manufactured was of a poor standard.

By 1876 he had also established two lightships, thirteen buoys, and three beacons plus the beginnings of a lifeboat service.

As he had experience in railways prior to coming to Japan, his advice was sought regarding the construction of railways in the country. He felt that it was more important to upgrade the tracks in the country to decent roads, but the Japanese Government decided instead to proceed with the railways first. Richard was instructed to construct a railway line between Yokohama and Tokyo, a distance of 22 miles, and a stretch of 20 miles from Osaka and Kyoto, and by autumn 1872, the first part of the task was completed, with hourly trains running.

His next task was that of setting up the country’s first telegraph line between Yokohama, Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, which he completed by 1870.

In 1866, the British Minister in Japan had been recommending to the Japanese Government that Yokohama should be upgraded to make it a place “fit for the residence of Europeans and Americans”, and his recommendations were accepted, with advice again being sought from Richard. He was faced with the reclamation of marsh areas into useable ground, the provision of a piped sewage system, a piped water supply, macadamised streets and paving, and the installation of street lamps.

His final act, before leaving the country in 1876, was to compile the first Ordnance Survey map of the country to a scale of 20 miles to the inch.

By the time of his return to Britain, he hade been made a Fellow of the Geological Society, and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He spent three years as manager of Young’s Paraffin Oil Company in Glasgow, and then fifteen years as an architect and engineer in London, before his death in 1901.