Edward Richardson was a New Zealand civil and mechanical engineer, and Member of Parliament. Born in England, he emigrated to Australia and continued there as a railway engineer. Having become a partner in a contracting firm, a large project caused him to move to Christchurch in New Zealand, in which country he lived for the rest of his life.

The Lyttelton Rail Tunnel, initially called the Moorhouse Tunnel, links the city of Christchurch with the port of Lyttelton in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is the country's oldest operational rail tunnel, and is on the Lyttelton Line, one of the first railways built by Canterbury Provincial Railways.