James Crowe Richmond (22 September 1822 – 19 January 1898) was a New Zealand politician, engineer, and an early painter in watercolours of the New Zealand landscape.

Early life

Richmond was born in London, England, the son of Christopher Richmond, barrister and his wife, Maria Wilson. He was educated at Hackney Grammar School, at Hove House,

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and at the school attached to University College London. He was apprenticed to the engineer Samuel Clegg and from 1845 served on the staff of Isambard Kingdom Brunel for three years working on the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

in southern England. Richmond emigrated to New Zealand with his younger brother Henry Richmond on the ''Victory'' on 3 October 1850. The ship arrived in Auckland in February 1851 and the two walked south to Taranaki where they purchased a few acres near the home of their aunt Helen, who had married John Hursthouse and had also settled in Taranaki. Eventually members of the Richmond, Hursthouse, Atkinson and Ronald families, who were related by marriage, all settled near one another in the area. Richmond returned to England in 1854 and married Mary Smith on 21 August 1856 before returning to New Zealand on the ''Kenilworth'', which arrived in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

on 8 July 1857.

Political career

Richmond was elected unopposed as Member of Parliament for

Omata Omata is a locality in Taranaki, in the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 45 just southwest of New Plymouth. Omata and Western New Plymouth are adjacent to the Tapuae Marine Reserve. The area was the site of ...

at a 16 April 1860 by-election. He remained in Parliament until he resigned in 1865, as he was called to the Legislative Council, where he remained for only four months. He then represented

Grey and Bell Grey and Bell was a Taranaki electorate in the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 to 1881. Population centres The electorate covered the northern, rural part of the Taranaki Province. The localities of Inglewood and Waitara fell within Grey and B ...

from

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman tr ...

to 1870, when he was defeated. Mary had left for Nelson with other Taranaki refugees from the New Zealand Wars in 1860. In 1862 he joined her and became the editor of the ''Nelson Examiner'' while continuing his political career. After the fall of the Fox Ministry, he also became the Commissioner of Crown Lands. He served on the Nelson Provincial Council and was also appointed provincial secretary from 1863 to 1865.

Art

He formed a close and lifelong friendship with John Gully and continued to paint and sketch in what little spare time he had.

Later life

Mary died in Nelson on 29 October 1865 having never fully recovered from the birth of her fifth child, and this event left Richmond 'harassed & broken'. However, by 1866 he was back in politics and moved his family to Taranaki. By 1869 the family had moved back to Nelson. Other family connections were also living there, including his brother William's family and his sister Maria and her husband, Arthur Atkinson. Richmond travelled with his three eldest children to England and Europe in 1873 but returned to Nelson by January 1881. He continued to travel frequently. His daughter

Dorothy Kate Richmond Dorothy Kate Richmond (12 September 1861 – 16 April 1935), known as Dolla Richmond, was a New Zealand painter noted for her watercolour paintings of natural plants and animals and panoramic landscapes. Biography The daughter of James Crowe ...

was an artist and art teacher.

Death

Richmond died at the house of his daughter, Ann Elizabeth, in Ōtaki, which he was visiting, on 19 January 1898.

References

External links

Artworks by James Crowe Richmond in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaBiography in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, John Crowe 1822 births 1898 deaths English emigrants to New Zealand Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Members of the Nelson Provincial Council People from Taranaki Unsuccessful candidates in the 1871 New Zealand general election New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates People from the London Borough of Hackney 19th-century New Zealand painters 19th-century New Zealand male artists Atkinson–Hursthouse–Richmond family Colonial Secretaries of New Zealand 19th-century New Zealand politicians Engineers from London