James Crowe Richmond ( 1822 - 1898)

Richmond was a New Zealand artist born in London and educated at Hackney Grammar School, Brighton and at the school attached to University College London. He was apprenticed to the engineer Samuel Clegg and from 1845 and served on the staff of Isambard Kingdom Brunel for three years working on the Great Western Railway in southern England.

He emigrated to New Zealand with his younger brother Henry Richmond on the Victory on 3 October 1850. The ship arrived in Auckland in February 1851 and the two walked south to Taranaki where they purchased a few acres near the home of their aunt Helen, who had married John Hursthouse and had also settled in Taranaki. Eventually members of the Richmond, Hursthouse, Atkinson and Ronald families, who were related by marriage, all settled near one another in the area.