Richard Coulson was born in was born in East Halton, Lincolnshire, England in 1860. He was articled to William Marshall in Kingston-on-Hull from 1876 to 1881 and remained with him as his assistant until 1890. He then worked as an assistant in Hull Corporation Architects' Department from 1890 to 1892. In 1892 he moved to Dublin, Ireland where he worked a Surveyor and architect with Guinness's Brewery from 1892 until c.1923. In 1897 he was appointed head of the building trades department at the Dublin Municipal Technical Schools.
Coulson was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1910. He died in Stillorgan, Dublin on 6 February 1927.
Hull Junior Liberal Club, and various blocks of commercial buildings in Kingston-on-Hull; Wesleyan Methodist chapel, East Halton. Lincolnshire: extensive offices, hostels for staff, and numerous other works at St. James's Gate Brewery and elsewhere, for A. Guinness, Sons &c Co., Ltd., Dublin; Grand Hotel, Wicklow (1895); High School in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan (1909).
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001