Emma Jane Richmond

Emma Jane Richmond (née Parris, 1845 – 9 October 1921) was a New Zealand community and religious worker. She was a pioneer of anthroposophy in New Zealand.

Emma Jane Richmond
Born
Emma Jane Parris

1845
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Died (aged 76)
Havelock North, New Zealand
Known forPioneer of anthroposophy in New Zealand
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1868; died 1890)
RelativesRobert Parris (father)
Clifford Richmond (grandson)
James Crowe Richmond (brother-in-law)
William Richmond (brother-in-law)
Jane Maria Atkinson (sister-in-law)

Early life and family

Born in New Plymouth in 1845, Richmond was the daughter of Robert Reid Parris and his wife, Mary Whitmore, who had arrived in New Zealand in November 1842.[1][2] Raised as an Anglican with a liberal interpretation of doctrine, she read widely and was active in musical pastimes as a young woman.[1]

She married Henry Robert Richmond at St Mary's church, New Plymouth, on 15 July 1868.[3] Henry Richmond was a Unitarian and a widower, his first wife, Mary Blanche Hursthouse having died in 1864. Emma became stepmother to his two surviving children. The couple went on to have three children of their own, before Henry died in 1890.[1]

Community and religious activities

In 1886, Richmond became the first woman elected as a member of the Taranaki Education Board, and she was prominent in seeking the abolition of corporal punishment of girls.[1] She was chair of the Ladies' Visiting Committee, which observed the management of New Plymouth hospital from 1886,[4] and was the first woman elected to the Taranaki Hospital Board.[1] Richmond was interested in the treatment of female prison inmates, and for many years was an official visitor of jails nationally.[5]

It is thought that Ricmond probably first encountered theosophical ideas during family discussions within the Atkinson–Richmond extended family, but it is known that she was a member of the Christchurch branch of the Theosophical Society in 1894,[1] and was its president by 1897.[6] Richmond became president of the Wellington branch of the Theosophical Society after moving to that city in 1900, and served in that capacity for three years, giving over 60 public lectures. She was elected president of the sixth annual convention of the New Zealand Theosophical Society in 1901.[1]

In 1904, Richmond and her daughter, Beatrice, visited London, where they encountered anthroposophy and the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, and Richmond arranged for translations of Steiner's lectures to be sent to New Zealand. After returning to Wellington she continued to receive and distribute copies of Steiner's lectures in translation as well as some of his books. In about 1912, Richmond moved to Havelock North to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Rachel and Bernard Crompton-Smith, and she led an anthroposophical study group, which included Mabel Hodge, at their home.[1]

Death

Richmond died at Havelock North on 9 October 1921.[7] Her funeral left St Paul's pro-cathedral in Wellington, and she was buried at Karori Cemetery.[8]

Legacy

After Richmond's death in 1921, the Crompton-Smiths took up the leadership of anthroposophy in New Zealand, eventually leading to the establishment of the Anthroposophical Society in New Zealand in 1933, and the country's first Rudolf Steiner school in Hastings in 1950.[1]

gollark: What's that do?
gollark: No, we must replace all our programming languages with D&D rulebooks.
gollark: As language-ist (this is totally a word) as it is, things would be *much easier* if we stuck to English and ASCII.
gollark: I feel like this is a bad idea.
gollark: It is, but that bit is evil.

References
  1. Turbott, Garth John (2013). Anthroposophy in the Antipodes: a lived spirituality in New Zealand 1902–1960s (MA thesis) (PDF). Palmerston North: Massey University. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  2. Church, Ian (30 October 2012). "Parris, Robert Reid". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  3. "Married". Nelson Evening Mail. 11 August 1868. p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  4. "Hospital Board". Taranaki Herald. 9 December 1886. p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  5. "Obituary: Mrs. E. J. Richmond". Auckland Star. 11 October 1921. p. 5. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  6. "News of the day: theosophy". The Press. 31 March 1897. p. 5. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  7. "Deaths". New Zealand Herald. 11 October 1921. p. 1. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  8. "Funeral card". Evening Post. 11 October 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
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