Abstract
Soldier, farmer, politician and crusader, Sir John Richardson may be said to have lived a full and varied life. His ability and integrity fitted him well to cope with the heavy responsibilities which were thrust upon him in his role of a leader of a pioneering community. The shaping of the future of Otago and New Zealand, and the welfare of their people, owed not a little to his practical knowledge, his good sense, and his devotion to the course which he believed Providence had marked out for him. Aloof and autocratic as he may have seemed to some of his contemporaries, his humane character and scrupulous honesty outweighed any faults he possessed, and he endeared “the Major”, as he was affectionately called, to every section of the community. It is the primary endeavour of this work to illustrate the way in which Richardson influenced his times and fulfilled his self-allotted task of serving his fellow men. [extract from Preface]