RICHMOND, JAMES CROWE (1822-98) was born in London, the son of Christopher Richmond, and brother of C. W. Richmond (q.v.) The Richmonds being Unitarians, James went to the Unitarian School at Hove House, Brighton, under Dr Hutton. He then went to University College, London, and trained as a civil engineer in the firm of Samuda, where he made the acquaintance of a fellow student, John Atkinson, thus initiating an important family relationship. (See H. A. ATKINSON) After qualifying, Richmond was employed for some time under Sir Isambard Brunel, then engineer to the Great Western railway. Already he showed great ability as a painter in water colours. Though he had little teaching, he studied the work of contemporary artists and made substantial progress. His tastes throughout life were distinctly artistic. The health of an elder brother, Christopher William, made it desirable that the family should leave England. James and Henry sailed in the Victory and on 1 Feb 1851 they landed in Auckland. After a few days there they set out on foot overland to Taranaki by way of the Waikato and Kawhia. During this journey they gained their first acquaintance with the Maori people.

In 1852 he contested the Taranaki seat in the Legislative Council of New Ulster. The Richmond and Atkinson families took up their farm sections together between New Plymouth and Egmont. The first section, a small one, had been partly cultivated by a former holder. They added to it, and, when the rest of the family arrived (1853) they increased their total area to 1,000 acres, in eight holdings. To the present day there are paddocks known as "Uncle James's", "Uncle Henry's" and "Uncle Arthur's." Shortly after settling down James returned to Europe, where he married Mary Smith, a first cousin of the Atkinsons, and a sister of the second wife of H. A. Atkinson. He spent some time on railway construction work under an English company near Namur, in Belgium; and also before returning to New Zealand did a considerable amount of painting in the Isle of Arran. They had not been long in New Zealand before native affairs assumed an unfavourable aspect. The Rawiri-Katatore feud had plunged the Maori into a desultory tribal war. When the Taranaki Volunteer Rifle company was formed (1858) under C. Brown (q.v.), Richmond joined as a private, and was second only to Messenger as a rifle shot. In Nov 1858 he was persuaded to allow himself to be elected to the Provincial Council for the Grey and Bell constituency. Shortly afterwards he and T. King were appointed to the executive by the Superintendent (Cutfield, q.v.). That Richmond's disposition towards the Maori was very friendly was attested by his contributions to the Taranaki Herald. Early in 1860 the Governor (Gore-Browne) wrote intimating that he intended to proceed with the Waitara purchase. The executive earnestly advised Cutfield to apprise the Governor of the probable issue of his policy before allowing the surveyors to commence the work. Cutfield disagreed, but Richmond and King insisted, on threat of resigning, and Richmond as provincial secretary carefully drafted a letter stating that the province would support the Government but repeating the warning that hostilities were liable to be far-reaching. When fighting commenced Richmond was in the field as a volunteer and inspector of defences. He was present at the fiasco at Ratapihipihi and the night operations after Waireka (Mar 1860) searching for stragglers. His own farm was raided, and the stock driven off. The house was preserved by the Maoris as a convenient rest-place, but was accidentally burned after the war by carpenters engaged on reconstruction.

In the middle of 1860 he was elected to the General Assembly as representative of Omata. 1861 was a dark year for the province. On Cutfield's retirement from the superintendency Richmond contested it against Brown and was defeated by 167 votes to 98 (24 May). In his election campaign he strongly urged the settlers, weak and few as they were, to adopt a conciliatory tone in their peace demands and to remember that those who were then enemies were potential friends. The Stafford Government's policy was very distasteful to Taranaki, and Richmond suffered politically from his relationship with the Colonial Treasurer (C. W. Richmond). A week later he was re-elected to the Provincial Council, though at the bottom of the poll. Later in the year he decided to remove with his young family to the less troubled atmosphere of Nelson. He and King were personally responsible to the extent of £4,000 for relief in housing and feeding fugitive settlers. He had been correspondent for some time of the Nelson Examiner, and he moved to that province on receiving the offer of the editorship of that paper. While there he also practised occasionally his profession as consulting engineer to mining companies. In Mar 1862 Richmond was appointed by the Superintendent (J. P. Robinson, q.v.) to the post of provincial secretary. In Nov he became commissioner of crown lands for the province. In this capacity he made many overland journeys on horseback down the west coast and to Canterbury, and some voyages by the ketch Jane down the coast. These travels enabled him to add to his collection of sketches, and he made drawings of the coal seams at Brunner. Until Jan 1862 Richmond remained M.P.C. for Grey and Bell, and actively assisted in the succour of the Taranaki refugees in Nelson. He also continued throughout his sojourn in Nelson to be member of Parliament for Omata. In Aug 1864 he regularised his position in the provincial executive by becoming member of the Nelson Provincial Council (for Amuri).

1865 was a year of great significance in his life. Saunders came into office as Superintendent on the death of Robinson (Mar), and Richmond resigned from the executive, it being considered that this post was incompatible with his tenure of the commissionership of crown lands. In Jun Weld offered him the post of Colonial Secretary with a seat in the Legislative Council. He accordingly resigned from the House and the Provincial Council. His wife having died, he moved with his family to New Plymouth to be near their relatives. The short tenure of office of the Weld ministry (11 months) was a very difficult time. Weld was pledged to work for peace by an amnesty, by making roads and by assuming sole responsibility for native affairs; in short by self-reliance. He at once removed the seat of government to Wellington, and had the satisfaction of seeing his policy hopefully initiated before his Government was defeated (Oct 1865). Richmond incurred subsequent odium for having, as Colonial Secretary, signed the proclamation confiscating lands in Waikato. In Mar 1866 he took the opportunity of returning to the popular chamber (as member for Grey and Bell), and a few months later (Aug) Stafford invited him to join the ministry. The portfolios which he took were nominally those of Customs and Stamp Duties. Stafford explained in the House that native affairs had so much improved that "there appeared to be no longer any specialty in dealing with them. As long as there was a line of demarcation between the management of European and of native affairs there would continue to be causes of dissatisfaction and irritation, and he thought it a step in the right direction to do away with the office of native minister." Though Richmond accepted these essentially civil portfolios, he was destined immediately to have the native problem upon his shoulders in a very insistent form. He rode hundreds of miles visiting restless native tribes, dealing tardy justice to wronged hapus and rewarding with adequate reserves the good service rendered by Taranaki chiefs at the wreck of the Lord Worsley. In Sep 1866 he was chairman of the native affairs committee, and was answering all questions under this head. In Jun 1867 he was openly addressed as Native Minister, and in that capacity he attended a great native gathering in Poverty Bay, where he delighted the tribe by withdrawing any claim to the land on the part of the Government on the understanding that they did not dispute amongst themselves. Throughout this year the Hauhau rising had extended from district to district. When portion of the Ngati-Ruanui tendered their submission Richmond went with Parris to Patea after a tribal meeting at which Hone Pihama presided, and five considerable reserves were set apart upon which this chief and his followers lived peaceably through the succeeding years of trouble. Richmond as Native Minister acted throughout the war in close association with the Defence Minister (Haultain, q.v.) and spent many weeks in the field. It was due to the dissuasion of Governor Bowen that he did not open friendly conversations with the Maori King at his headquarters in the Waikato. Early in 1868 he sent Rolleston, the Native Secretary, to the Chathams to report on the prisoners from Poverty Bay (including Te Kooti, q.v.), who were interned there. On his recommendation the period of banishment was extended, but the guard was so reduced in strength that Te Kooti was encouraged to make his escape. In Jul he appeared at the head of an invading force in Poverty Bay. In this emergency Richmond showed remarkable energy and resource. He at once went to Poverty Bay (with McLean) to see that the garrison of Wairoa and the settlers were in a state of preparedness. Arrangements were made for erecting a redoubt and stockade at Poverty Bay, and Richmond specially warned Major Biggs not to allow settlers or friendlies to sleep outside the pa. Then he went south and assisted in bringing up a force of 200 European troops under Whitmore (q.v.). He remained with the force on the march for some days; personally helped to carry wounded natives on a litter, and persuaded the Ngati-Porou contingent to pursue the enemy. Then he went to Maketu and Rotoiti, and brought reinforcements from the loyal tribes to assist in the reduction of Ngatapa. He started with Whitmore's column from Matata, but left shortly afterwards to organise a third force to operate from Wairoa towards Waikaremoana. Having handed over the command of this new column to Herrick, Richmond proceeded to Waikaremoana to construct a flotilla of boats to carry the column across the lake. On the day the force started the orders were countermanded, as Te Kooti had withdrawn to the westward. Richmond had no part or responsibility in the offering of a reward of £1,000 for Te Kooti's capture. The defeat of the Government in Jun 1869 put an end to his active participation in the campaign. The responsibility for native affairs fell to McLean, though the office was not revived in name until 1872.

At the dissolution late in 1870 Richmond found himself strongly opposed to the rising mana of Vogel. He contested two seats simultaneously without success. In Nelson he was third on the poll to Curtis and Lightband, and in Wellington City he was defeated by Pearce, Hunter and Travers. If Brown had retired he would have stood for his old constituency, Grey and Bell.

Out of Parliament at last, Richmond left in 1872 for England with his three eldest children. While they were at school he lived in the Tyrol and Switzerland, and did much painting. For three years (1873-76) he was engaged under an English company on railway construction in Algeria, between Oran and Tlemsen. Another three years he spent in London, and in 1880 the combined families returned to New Zealand. In Melbourne they picked up John Gully (q.v.), and the two artists spent some time sketching at Milford Sound, the first point at which they landed in New Zealand. Richmond settled down in Nelson, made one more attempt to enter Parliament by contesting the Waimea seat (1881), and then lived the retired life of an artist. He was called again to the Legislative Council in Mar 1883, and left his studio each session to attend to his duties in Wellington until his final retirement (7 Jul 1892). Richmond died on 19 Jan 1898 and was buried at Otaki.

Gisborne describes Richmond as being "talented without genius, and philosophic without enthusiasm. His ability is above the average and his mind is cultured and well stored with information. His speeches, in spite of a rather hesitating delivery, are pointed and forcible. He has not the faculties which secure the highest distinction in political life. His mind is too bent on refining, and is of that wavering order which hesitates when promptitude and decision are needed. His political opinions generally were moderate and sensible, but unfortunately they were, in native affairs, characterised by that fatal idea... that the native race needed to be made, once for all, loyal by force, and that peace, to be permanent, must be conquered." A straightforward nobility of character and high principles were evident to his contemporaries. It may aptly be said, in the words of one who knew him, that "his temperament was ideal and poetic rather than practical. He detested the clamour and dust of the parliamentary arena." His intellectual recreations were painting (with definite flashes of genius), writing verse and reading the classics in Greek, Latin, Italian, French and German. His tomb bears Johnson's epitaph on Goldsmith: "He touched nothing that he did not adorn."

Family information; Taranaki and Nelson P.C. Proc.; Cycl. N.Z., v (p); N.Z.P.D., pass (notably 7 Sep 1865, 18, 25 Jun 1869, 1 Aug 1888); Gisborne (p); Rusden; Saunders; Gudgeon; Cowan, ii; Art in New Zealand, Mar, Sep 1932; Evening Post, 18 Sep 1984 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 123

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