Bedford was born in 1945 in Takapuna. His parents were Beryl (née Sanders) and John Dodgshun Bedford.[2] His grandfather was the academic and member of parliament Harry Bedford.[3] He received his primary school education in East Taieri, Te Puke, Te Kauwhata, and Campbells Bay. He then attended Rangitoto College before completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1965 and a Master of Arts in 1967 at the University of Auckland. The title of his master's thesis was Resettlement: solution to economic and social problems in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.[4] He gained his PhD from the Australian National University in Canberra in 1972, with the title of his doctoral thesis as Mobility in transition: an analysis of population movement in the New Hebrides.[2][5]
In 1969, he married Janet Sholto Douglas, the daughter of Royal Air Force senior commander Sholto Douglas. They were to have one son and one daughter.[2]
Career
From 1972 to 1989, Bedford was a geography lecturer at the University of Canterbury.[2] From 1989, he was professor of geography at the University of Waikato. He retired from the university and in 2014, Waikato awarded him the title emeritus professor.[6]
In 2010, Bedford moved to Auckland University of Technology (AUT) as pro vice-chancellor research. In 2016, AUT also awarded Bedford the title emeritus professor.[7]
^Bedford, Richard (1967). Resettlement: solution to economic and social problems in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (Masters thesis). ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland. hdl:2292/18055.