Charles Richard Mayson (born 13 October 1941), generally known as Richard Mayson, is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Mayson was born in Nelson in 1941, the son of Charles Samuel Mayson.^[1][2] He received his education at Nelson Central School, Nelson College, and Hastings Boys' High School. On 8 February 1964, he married Shirley Annette Schofield, the daughter of Edward Schofield. They had one son and one daughter.^[1]

After school, Mayson worked as a farm hand (1957–1959), a labourer (1959–1960), a salesman and window display artist (1960–1964), and a radio salesman (1965–1970). He was a New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) advertising executive in 1970 and 1971, and a lay preacher in the Methodist Church.^[1]

He joined the Labour Party in his youth and was a member and delegate from the party's Grey Lynn branch and later was secretary of the Porirua branch.^[3] He was a radical Christian socialist.^[4]

Mayson represented the Hastings electorate from 1972 to 1975, when he was defeated by National's Bob Fenton.^[5] He had previously stood unsuccessfully for Hastings in the 1969 election. During the 1975 election campaign Mayson received a threatening letter containing a live .22 caliber round, the third time he had received such a letter. The third letter stated "We've had enough of your kind of Commie lot [Labour] ... you're selling out on democracy and you will be the first to get a .308 through your stomach." Mayson made a complaint to the police.^[6]

After losing his seat in Parliament he travelled to Tanzania to visit former parliamentary colleague Phil Amos who was living there. Mayson commented that Amos was living the life of a 20th-century version of David Livingstone.^[7]

Mayson was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. For his recreation, he enjoys tennis, squash, swimming, reading, and spending time with his family.^[1]

• Mayson, Richard (2016). Not So Silent: The Life of Richard Mayson. New Zealand: White Stone Publishing. ISBN 978-0-473-36652-0.
• Traue, James Edward, ed. (1978). Who's Who in New Zealand (11th ed.). Wellington: Reed.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4 ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.