Nigel (Texas)) Canning Richardson

Nigel Canning Richardson was born in October 1880 in Merionethshire, his father, George Richardson, was 25 and his mother, Emily, was 20. He immigrated to New Zealand via Texas USA . Hence his nick name Texas
where he meet and married Margaret Joyce Shaw in September 1907 in New Zealand. They had one child during their marriage.

They along with a handful of other early settlers ,Pioneered a rough parcel od remote bush farmland at Oponae ( general area referred to as Wairata ) is in the Waioeka Gorge between Opotiki and Gisborne.


He signed up with a group of young men from Oponae for WW1. Sadly all were killed. The properties at Oponae reverted to bush. But the original farm orchards can still be seen.

He died on 9 August 1917 in Belgium at the age of 36, and was buried in Warneton, Hainaut, Belgium.

Oponae ( general area referred to as Wairata ) is in the Waioeka Gorge between Opotiki and Gisborne – but at the northern end, so is correctly considered part of Bay of Plenty. The Waioeka settlement was,believed to be Crown leasehold, and was allotted by ballot in 1906. One source shows Texas Richardson as being one of those successful in this ballot, and notes that he had previously been farming in the Waimata Valley, Gisborne. in 1911, after meeting some of the Wairata settlers at the Opotiki sheep fair on 24 Feb 1911. These early contacts included Texas, who became a very firm friend. I have my great uncle Jack’s diaries from 1911-12, and he refers often to going to “ The Tex’s” to play bridge, help with work on their property, or to share Christmas. Jack and Bill Carlyle were recent arrivals from England, and had done a bit of sheep farming experience on the East Coast.

Name: RICHARDSON, NIGEL CANNING Nationality: New Zealand Rank: Rifleman Regiment/Service: New Zealand Rifle Brigade Unit Text: 2nd Bn. 3rd Age: 37 Date of Death: 09/08/1917 Service No: 23433 Additional information: Son of George Canning Richardson and Emily Richardson; husband of Margaret Joyce Richardson, of Cherry Farm, Stone, Ashford, Kent. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: III. A. 22. Cemetery: PROWSE POINT MILITARY CEMETERY