Ralph Richardson (1812–1897/1898) was a Member of the New Zealand Legislative Council. He lived in New Zealand for less than a decade, and retired to Devon in England, and later to London.
Richardson was appointed to the Legislative Council on 31 December 1853.[7] He was a Member of the Executive Council in the first Fox Ministry from 24 May to 2 June 1856.[8] He resigned from the Legislative Council on 13 December 1856.[7] The Richardsons returned to England in 1858.[2] According to Henry Sewell's diary, "Mrs Richarson like[d] New Zealand, but the want of Servants [was] the one intolerable grievance."[9] They bought an estate in Devon where they lived until the 1880s.[1] His wife died in 1880,[10] and he later moved to London.[1] After his son Ralph (who was a New Zealand MHR from 1871 to 1873) died in Nelson on 22 December 1889,[11] he took in his daughter-in-law and her two small girls.[10] Richardson died in 1897[2] or 1898.[10]
Richardson, Lesley (1995). "Ralphine Richardson". Journal of the Nelson and Marlborough Historical Societies. 2 (6). Nelson Historical Society (Inc.). Retrieved 21 June 2015.
