James Nicholson Richardson (7 February 1846 - 11 October 1921) was an Irish Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1885.

Richardson was the son of John Grubb Richardson

John Grubb Richardson

John Grubb Richardson was a major Irish industrialist who founded the model village of Bessbrook near Newry, in what is now Northern Ireland...

 of Lisburn

Lisburn

DemographicsLisburn Urban Area is within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area and is classified as a Large Town by the . On census day there were 71,465 people living in Lisburn...

, County Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

 and Bessbrook

Bessbrook

Bessbrook is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about three miles northwest of Newry and close to the main Dublin–Belfast road and rail line...

, County Down

County Down

-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...

, and his first wife Helena Grubb, daughter of Richard Grubb of Cahir Abbey, Tipperary

Tipperary

Tipperary is a town and a civil parish in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,415 at the 2006 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam....

. He was educated at home until 1857 and then at Grove House Academy, a Quaker school in Tottenham. His mother died in 1849 during childbirth and his father remarried Jane Marion Wakefield; through the Wakefield family the Richardsons inherited their estate at Moyallon House, Gilford

Gilford

Gilford is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. The village sits on the River Bann between the towns of Banbridge, Tandragee and Portadown. It covers the townlands of Loughans, Ballymacanallen and Drumaran. It had a population of 1,573 people in the 2001 Census...

, County Down.

At the 1880 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1880

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher *...

 Richardson was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Armagh

Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)

Armagh or County Armagh was a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons. It was replaced in boundary changes in 1983.The Act of Union 1800 provided for the Parliament of Ireland to be merged with the Parliament of Great Britain, to form the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 and held the seat until 1885. He was a supporter of the interests of the tenant farmers of Ireland and a member of the Religious Society of Friends

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

.

Richardson died at the age of 75 and is buried in the grounds of Bessbrook Friends' Meeting House, close to his home.

Richardson married Sophia Malcolmson, daughter of William Malcolmson of Portlaw in 1867. The couple honeymooned in Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 and made their home at Mount Caulfield House, Bessbrook. Richardson would go on to sell 5,000 acres of his estate under the Wyndham Acts

Irish Land Acts

The Land Acts were a series of measures to deal with the question of peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by the government of the United Kingdom between 1870 and 1909...

. He died at Malvern

Malvern

-England:* Malvern, Worcestershire* Malvern Hills, a ridge of hills on the boundary of Herefordshire and Worcestershire* Malvern Hills , a local government district in WorcestershirePlaces in or near Malvern, Worcestershire...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

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