Richard Dacre Harman (3 June 1859 – 26 December 1927) was a New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player and architect. Harman was one of the 15 children of the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

pioneer

Richard James Strachan Harman Richard James Strachan Harman (14 April 1826 – 26 November 1902) was trained as a civil engineer. However, in Christchurch, New Zealand, he worked as a bureaucrat, politician and businessman. He was one of the Canterbury Pilgrims, having arriv ...

and his wife Emma. After training as an architect he joined the established

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

firm of Armson Collins, and later became partner, when the firm's name changed to

Armson, Collins and Harman Armson, Collins and Harman was an architectural firm in New Zealand. It was founded by William Barnett Armson (1832/3–1883), and after his death, became the practice of two architects who articled with him, John James Collins (1855–1933) and ...

. While working with the firm he designed many of Christchurch’s major buildings. He was a prominent sportsman. He represented

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

, and played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

from 1884 to 1897. His performances in senior club cricket gave him the "reputation as one of Canterbury's best batsmen", though his first-class batting was less successful. In a club match in December 1881 he scored the first

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

at the newly-constructed

Lancaster Park Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium was closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 eart ...

ground. He also umpired five first-class matches at Lancaster Park between 1887 and 1898. Harman was one of the leading tennis players in New Zealand. He won the New Zealand men's singles title in 1891–92, and won the doubles title five times between 1887 and 1894 with his partner Frederick Wilding and once with D. Collins in 1895–96. He won the Canterbury Championships singles title six times between 1888 and 1900. Harman married Alice Spooner in Christchurch in October 1895. He died in December 1927, leaving his widow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harman, Richard 1859 births 1927 deaths People from Christchurch People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch New Zealand cricketers New Zealand cricket umpires Canterbury cricketers Canterbury rugby union players New Zealand male tennis players New Zealand architects

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

19th-century New Zealand sportspeople