Southwood was born in Marlborough Cottage in
Northfleet near Gravesend, where his father's family dealt in farm and dairy products. In 1935 the family moved to Parrock Manor. His parents encouraged his interest in natural history. Richard became interested in natural history at an early age, and developed his skills on the family dairy farm in
Kent; he had his first research article on sunbathing in birds in
British Birds when he was fifteen and about insects published in the ''
Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' when he was a year older. His father had received some education at the
Wye College. Other early influences included
Tom Longstaff. He was educated at Bronte School,
Gravesend Grammar School and
Imperial College London BSc in biology, MSc botany, then worked for his PhD degree in
zoology studies at
Rothamsted Experimental Station. He returned to
Imperial as a research assistant and lecturer, and in 1967 became head of the department of zoology and applied entomology, and director of Imperial College's Field Station at
Silwood Park. He later became dean of science and
chair of the division of life sciences. In 1979, he took up the
Linacre Chair of Zoology in the University of Oxford, and was elected a
Fellow of
Merton College. In 1989, he moved from being head of the department of zoology to take up the vice-chancellorship of the university, from which position he set up a working party that would recommend the reform of the university's governance. Having stepped down from that position in 1993, he continued to research, teach and write, and in 2003 published
The Story of Life, a book based on the first-year undergraduate lectures he gave at Oxford. Southwood served as chairman of the
Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution from 1981 to 1985, having been first appointed to the commission in 1974. Under his chairmanship, the 1983 report
Lead in the Environment aroused public concern about lead pollution. He was chairman of the
National Radiological Protection Board from 1985 until 1994, and also chaired the Working Party on
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) set up by the British Government in 1988. In 1993–1994 he was the first head of the department of environmental sciences and policy at the
Central European University in Budapest. Southwood was also a contributing member of the
Oxford Round Table, an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of contemporary issues. A portrait of Sir Richard Southwood hangs at
Merton College, Oxford. ==Family==