Richard James Strachan Harman
New Zealand politician (1826-1902)
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 arrived in Lyttelton, on Sir George Seymour, one of the First Four Ships. He was a business partner of Edward Cephas John Stevens and senior partner of Harman and Stevens, and together they took financial control of the Christchurch newspaper The Press from its original proprietor, James FitzGerald, over a protracted period. Harman held many important roles with the Canterbury Provincial Council and was the last Deputy-Superintendent.
Early life
Harman was born in Dublin in 1826, the son of Richard Harman. He was educated at Rugby School under Dr Thomas Arnold, and at King's College London. He was a pupil of George and Sir John Rennie, the London engineers, and he graduated as a civil engineer.
Professional life
Soon afterwards, he emigrated to New Zealand, arriving in Lyttelton on 17 December 1850 by the ship Sir George Seymour. He lived in Canterbury except for one period.
The public source identifies “Richard James Strachan Harman” as new Zealand politician (1826-1902). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Richard, James and Strachan.
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This entry incorporates text from “Richard James Strachan Harman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.