I've been following Lu's original thread on this family at:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,259529This development is absolutely fascinating
Cazay, Brilliant work!
Lots of the people/events mentioned can be traced on FreeBMD.
Wotton under Edge, incidentally, is in the Dursley registration district.
The birthplace of 'Bristol' as given on John's death cert is not a problem - it was very common for birthplaces in the Antipodes to be rendered as the nearest big town which the Registrar had heard of!
John RICHINGS m Sarah Ann BLIZARD, Dursley, Mar q 1860
Elizabeth Jane RICHINGS, birth, Thornbury, Sep q 1861
?Also a John Blizard RICHINGS, birth, Thornbury, Mar q 1864
Sarah Ann re-married, Dursley, Jun q 1875 to William Henry ARMITAGE (she is listed as Sarah Ann BLIZARD and as Sarah Ann RICHINGS) and had several children.
(Presumably first husband John had effectively been declared dead once he'd been gone for over 7 years.)
The ARMITAGE family is in the 1881 census (on FamilySearch) in Wotton under Edge. William was the Manager of an Elastic Works; stepdaughter Elizabeth Jane was working as his Assistant. Children of William & Sarah at that stage were Edith A 5, Amy E 3, and Florence R 1.
Lu, It was fortunate that you found that LDS submission re the marriage of John RICHINGS & Mary COOK. I can't find it on FreeBMD - perhaps because it was early days for statutory registration and people hadn't really become used to registration.
However, appropriate births in Dursley for children of John snr & Mary (as mentioned in the censuses) can all be found on FreeBMD.
Extracted records in the online IGI for Wotton under Edge finish early unfortunately (as can be seen from the Hugh Wallis site). And those records seem to reflect all the Wotton-under-Edge filmed records held by the LDS (from the Library catalogue on FamilySearch).
The LDS submission looks reliable with its precise date - and precise dates are provided throughout that LDS batch.
Incidentally, a brother of your John (from the 1851 census) was Morris RICHINGS - on FreeBMD as Mau___ ). A search for RICHINGS in Gloucestershire on A2A at:
http://www.a2a.org.uk/finds (Ref D4890/4/17, date 1881):
Sale notice, stock-in-trade, furniture and effects of Maurice Richings, Wotton-under-Edge, nurseryman and grocer, bankrupt
Cheers,
JAP