HARMAN, RICHARD JAMES STRACHAN (1826-1902) was born at Dublin and educated at Rugby in the days of Dr Arnold. Amongst his school-fellows were Freeman, the historian, Sir Richard Temple and Dr Liddell. He learned to play good cricket, and figured in the earliest games in Canterbury a few years later. Harman qualified as a civil engineer, serving his articles with George and John Rennie in London, and soon after sailed with the first expedition for Canterbury in the Sir George Seymour. When the settlers organised the Society of Land Purchasers, he was elected to the council, and as executive officer he had to present to the agent of the Canterbury Association the recommendations of the Society with regard to roads and other public works. In 1851 Harman started in business as a land and estate agent and agent for a number of purchasers who had not come out. In 1862 he was joined by E. C. J. Stevens (q.v.). Early in 1853, in partnership with Cyrus Davie, one of the early surveyors, he took up a run between the Selwyn river and Lake Ellesmere. They soon made several thousand acres freehold, and held it until the end of the seventies. In 1854 Harman, Bray, Cridland, Jollie and Dobson were appointed a commission to report on the best means of communication between Christchurch and its port. They recommended an open road by way of Sumner, with a tunnel through Evans pass. Harman assisted Bray in the survey for the tunnel, and then went to England. While there he acted as emigration agent, and sent out many people to the province. In 1855 he married Emma, daughter of Dr Thomas de Renzy, of county Wicklow. They came out in 1856 in the Egmont.

In 1857 Harman entered the Provincial Council for Heathcote, which he represented until 1860. He was a member of the executive (1856-58). The Council in 1858 appointed him to a commission to decide upon the best lines for road and railway communications. In 1859 he led the executive. In 1860 he was elected to represent Akaroa in the Council and he continued as its member until 1862. He was a member of the waste lands board, and he also did much surveying for the provincial government on Banks Peninsula. For the first month he was required to attend the land board twice a week. This entailed leaving camp at Duvauchelles at midnight, walking through the bush to Purau, boating to Lyttelton and thence walking to Christchurch. Eight times in the month Harman covered this journey. In 1865 he joined the provincial expedition to discover a route across the mountains to the West Coast, where a new mining population was settling. Crossing the Canterbury plains on foot, and swimming the Rakaia, Ashburton, and Rangitata rivers, they discovered Browning's Pass.

In 1867 Harman was nominated for Mandeville in the Provincial Council, but he retired in favour of a local man. In 1867 he was a member of the Financial Reform association, formed to bring economy into the affairs of the province. In 1871 he acted as deputy-superintendent. Harman was elected (1869) a member of the South Waimakariri board of conservators, and was chairman throughout. He was for long on the domain board (chairman 1874-81), and did much towards beautifying the city, notably in planting Rolleston avenue and the avenues surrounding Hagley Park, and in presenting a garden of rhododendrons (opposite St Michael's Church). He was for twenty-five years a churchwarden and for thirty-seven years a church officer of St Michael's; a member of the diocesan synod from its formation, and one of the first members of the cathedral chapter; and a governor of Christ's College. As a volunteer Harman was elected a lieutenant when No. 2 Company was formed (1864). He succeeded Col. Packe as captain, and held that rank until the corps was disbanded. In 1885 he co-operated with de Renzie Brett in forming the honorary reserve corps, in which he became a captain and helped to make a body of fine marksmen. He took part in the formation of the Canterbury Rifle Association, and represented it for many years on the New Zealand Association. He was one of the leading cricketers in the province, and for many years a supporter of the United Club, of which he was president. He was president of the Canterbury Rowing Club from its foundation, and of the Christchurch Football Club. Harman died on 26 Nov 1902.

Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Christ's Coll. List; The Press, 27 Nov, 1 Dec 1902; 6 Sep 1930 (p); Lyttelton Times, 28 Nov 1902.

Reference: Volume 1, page 196

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