Jonathan Joseph Richardson Explained

Jonathan Richardson was an Irish politician. He was a member of the Quaker Richardson family and a relative of James Nicholson Richardson MP and Jonathan Richardson MP.^[1]

He was elected as a Member of Parliament for Lisburn in an 1853 by-election, following the death of the sitting member, Roger Johnson Smyth. He did not seek re-election in the 1857 general election, instead supporting the candidacy of his cousin, Jonathan Richardson

References

• Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)

1. Walker suggests J.J. Richardson (elected 1853), was a different person from Jonathan Richardson (elected as a Liberal in 1857 and as a Conservative in 1859). Stenton, whose entry for the MP is mostly based upon the 1862 edition of Dod's Parliamentary Companion, states that Jonathan Richardson was "First returned for Lisburn Oct. 1853, and sat until he accepted Chiltern Hundreds Feb. 1863", but also notes a distinct Jonathan Joseph Richardson, MP for Lisburn August 1853 to 1857; the dates confusingly overlap. Contemporary newspaper reports indicate that the two were distinct; see Belfast News-Letter 1 April 1857 and Northern Whig 2 April 1857.