Richmond’s Streets Stories from the Grave

An overview of some of the notable early European settlers buried in the Richmond Cemetery and detailing their contributions to the town, their families, and their final resting places. Including John Sheat, James Blair, John Wallis Barnicoat, and others whose legacies are reflected in local street names.

Richmond Cemetery

In the mid-1850s, six acres of land were purchased from W. O. Cautley to establish a public cemetery in Richmond. The land was surveyed by Thomas J. Thompson, who was appointed a trustee, along with John Young, Jacob Batey, Thomas Butler, and William Harkness. The cemetery was open to all, and paupers' burials were conducted free of charge. The first burial took place on 18 October 1856.

A mortuary chapel seating around 60 people once stood inside the cemetery gates on the south side but was demolished around 1940.  The cemetery was taken over by the Richmond Borough Council in 1894.

Richmond Borough Council 1891

Richmond Borough Council 1891. Photo from Tasman Heritage.

Richmond's first Borough Council 1891

Standing from left in the photograph, John Croucher, Joseph Best, Alfred Sheat, James Blair (Town Clerk). Seated from left in the photograph, are Samuel Fittall, Joshua Papps, George Talbot (Mayor), and William Harkness.

The Cemetery Tour

As you walk through Richmond Cemetery, many of the names you see on the headstones may already be familiar—not from history books, but from the streets you travel every day. The roads, streets and avenues of Richmond carry the names of influential figures, pioneers, and community leaders who left a lasting impact on the town they helped build.

In 2024 Cheryl Carnahan, Sylvia Rumball, Karel Wallace and Dennis Bush-King, members of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists Nelson Branch, researched the people behind those street names, and conducted a tour of the Richmond Cemetery. offering visitors an opportunity to explore the gravestones and uncover the stories of those laid to rest. 

We invite you to take your own tour through the cemetery using the document they compiled. Accessible here:  

Richmond's Streets: Stories from the Grave 

Included in the above document are the names of the following individuals buried in the cemetery, along with the stories behind the streets named in their honour.

Story by: Cheryl Carnahan, Sylvia Rumball, Karel Wallace and Dennis Bush-King

Richmond Streets

Sources

 

Nelson Provincial Museum Photographs

https://www.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/ 

  • Barnicoat, Mr. Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 34843
  • Barnicoat, Mrs. Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 45469
  • Croucher, Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection:179164. John and Matilda Croucher and ten children of Elizabeth Croucher c 1884.
  • Croucher, Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection:64665. Ethel Louise Croucher, aka Louise. the 11th child of J M Croucher and daughter of Matilda.
  • Hodder's House. Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 175353. The Grange, The Petrie Family Home. 

Further Sources

Books

Newspapers

Websites

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