The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Richardson, Hon. Sir John Larkins Cheese
Richardson, Hon. Sir John Larkins Cheese, M.L.C., was born in Bengal on August 4th, 1810, and educated at Addiscombe College. Returning to India as an artillery cadet, he remained in the military service of the East India Company till 1851. In the following year he visited New Zealand and published an account of his trip in a volume entitled "A Summer's Excursion." He also published a poem in blank verse entitled "The First Christian Martyr in New Zealand." He then went back to England, but returned to settle in the Molyneux district of Otago in 1856. Subsequently he accepted a seat in the Provincial Council of Otago, and was chosen Speaker, being elected Superintendent of the province in 1861. In 1863 he was defeated on seeking re-election to the latter post by Mr. Harris. He was, however, again elected to the Provincial Council, and was once more chosen Speaker. This office he resigned in Nov. 1864, on becoming Postmaster-General in the Weld Government. In Nov. 1865 he became Commissioner of Customs in addition, but resigned with his colleagues in Oct. 1865. Sir John was a member of the Stafford Government without portfolio from August 1866 to May 1868. He was M.H.R. for Dunedin from 1861 to 1863, when he resigned, but was returned for a Taranaki constituency in 1866. Having been nominated to the Legislative Council, he was appointed Speaker of that body. Sir John, who was Chancellor of Otago University, died in Dunedin on Dec. 16th, 1878. He was knighted in 1875.