Sir John Larkins Cheese Richardson (4 August 1810 – 6 December 1878) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician, and a cabinet minister.

Military career

Richardson was born in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, India. His father was Robert Richardson, a civil servant of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

who ran a silk factory. Richardson received his education at the Company's Military Seminary in

Addiscombe Addiscombe is an area of south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located south of Charing Cross, and is situated north of Coombe and Selsdon, east of Croydon town centre, south of Woodside, and west of Shirley. Et ...

, Surrey, England. Afterwards, he was in the

Bengal Horse Artillery The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Govern ...

, and rose to the rank of Major. He took part in the Afghan Campaign, 1842 and was decorated for gallantry for his part in the attack on

Istalif Istālif ( prs, استالف) is a village northwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, situated at an elevation of in the Shomali Plains, west of Kalakan and south-west of Bagram. It is the center of Istalif District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan. Istalif is ...

. In 1845–1846 Richardson also took part in the

First Anglo-Sikh War The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 in and around the Ferozepur district of Punjab. It resulted in defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of ...

Political career

He was

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

Otago Province The Otago Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The capital of the province was Dunedin. Southland Province split from Otago in 1861, but became part of the province again in 1870. Area an ...

1861–1862 at the start of the

Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

. He then represented several electorates in Parliament: City of Dunedin in 1862 (resigned), then

Dunedin and Suburbs North Dunedin and Suburbs North was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1863 to 1866. It was a multi-member electorate. History During the second session (from 7 July to 15 September 1862) of the 3rd Parliam ...

from 1863 to 1866, then Town of New Plymouth from 1866 to 1867, when he resigned. He was then appointed to the Legislative Council, of which he was the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

from 1868 to 1879. He was knighted in 1874. Richardson worked with

Learmonth White Dalrymple Learmonth White Dalrymple (c.1827–26 August 1906) was a New Zealand educationalist who campaigned for girls' secondary education in Dunedin and for women to be admitted to the University of Otago. This was the first Australasian university to ...

to establish a girls' high school in Dunedin, and for women to be admitted as students of the University of Otago.

University of Otago

Richardson was an inaugural member of the council of the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

in 1869, becoming the university's Chancellor in 1871, and was also a member of the New Zealand University Council. He was responsible for allowing women to enroll at the university and helped to remove barriers for their entry. This allowed the university to be the first in Australasia to enroll women. The University of Otago's tallest building, the Richardson Building, is named in his honour. Richardson's granddaughter,

Josephine Gordon Rich Josephine Gordon Rich later Haswell (1866–1940) was a New Zealand zoologist and one of only four New Zealand women who published results of her scientific work before 1901. Early life and education Rich was born in 1866 in Spaxton, England, ...

, studied with Thomas Jefferson Parker at the university, and published a scientific paper, but does not appear in student lists, probably because her home-schooling made her ineligible to enrol. Richardson died at Dunedin on 6 December 1878 and was buried at

Dunedin Northern Cemetery The Dunedin Northern Cemetery is a major historic cemetery in the southern New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located on a sloping site close to Lovelock Avenue on a spur of Signal Hill close to the Dunedin Botanic Gardens and the suburb of ...

References

*Morrell, W.P. (1969) ''The University of Otago: A centennial history.'' Dunedin: University of Otago Press. * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, John Larkins Cheese 1810 births 1878 deaths Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Speakers of the New Zealand Legislative Council Superintendents of New Zealand provincial councils New Zealand MPs for Dunedin electorates Settlers of Otago Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council British East India Company people Burials at Dunedin Northern Cemetery 19th-century New Zealand politicians People of the Otago Gold Rush Chancellors of the University of Otago