Richardson did not taken up the offer as to take up such work would free a man to do what he could not do himself. In consequence a notice was issued ordering him to report to the King's Shropshire Light Infantry on 1 May 1917.

Richardson wrote in response, explaining why he could not in conscience comply with the notice He was arrest by the civilian police and brought before Hereford Magistrates' Court where he was fined 40s for failure to report as directed, and handed him over to a waiting military escort.

The military escort took Richardson to a KSLI depot where he was compulsorily enlisted on 8 May. He was recorded as disobeying an order to put on a uniform, was duly charged on 22 May, and appeared before a court-martial on 24 May. He received the conventional sentence for such first offence, 112 days imprisonment with hard labour. He was admitted to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, London and appeared before the Central Tribunal, sitting at the prison. The Central Tribunal had been given the task of interviewing all COs sentenced to imprisonment to evaluate whether they were ‘genuine’, after all, in which case they could be offered admission to the Home Office Scheme, allowing COs to be released effectively on licence to perform civilian work under civilian control. The Central Tribunal found Richardson to be g’enuine’, and offered him the Scheme, which he accepted. In July July he was released from the Scrubs and admitted to Princetown Work Centre. So far as is known, Richardson remained at Princetown until April 1919, when the Home Office Scheme closed down, and all inmates were sent home. In the meantime, Richardson remained formally in Army Reserve W, to which he had been transferred on admission to the Scheme, and in a paperwork clearing exercise he was formally discharged from the Army on 31 March 1920.