Richard O'Connor (politician)

Infobox Judge
name = Richard O'Connor


caption = Official portrait of O'Connor, c. 1910
order =
office = Puisne Justice of the High Court of Australia
term_start = 5 October 1903
term_end = 18 November 1912
appointer = Alfred Deakin
predecessor = "none"
successor = Sir Frank Gavan Duffy
birth_date = 1851
birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
death_date = 18 November 1912
death_place =

Richard Edward O'Connor, QC (4 August 1851 – 18 November 1912), Australian politician, was a member of the first federal ministry.

O'Connor was born in the Sydney suburb of Glebe and was educated at Lyndhurst College, Sydney Grammar School, and at the St John's College, University of Sydney, graduating as a lawyer in 1871. He became a clerk to the legislative council, studied law, and was called to the bar in 1876. Almost from the beginning he was known as a sound lawyer and he subsequently built up a successful practice, he was also a well-known journalist writing for Irish-Australian and Catholic magazines.cite web|publisher=Dictionary of Australian Biography|first=Percival|last=Searle| weblink=Percival Searle | title= O'Connor, Richard Edward (1851 - 1912) | url=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogN-O.html#o'connor2] Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Rutledge |first=Martha |authorlink= |year= 1988 |id=A110062b|title= O'Connor, Richard Edward (1851 - 1912) |accessdate= 2007-08-31]

A Protectionist, O'Connor was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council 1887–98. He was Minister for Justice 1891–93 and Solicitor-General 1893.cite web
title =The Hon. Richard Edward O'Connor (1851 - 1912)
work =Members of Parliament
publisher =Parliament of New South Wales
url =http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/1fb6ebed995667c2ca256ea100825164/89ada749f5f82aa2ca256cb500186aa1!OpenDocument
accessdate = 2007-08-31] He was made a Q.C. in 1896, and in the same year was a member of the people's federal convention held at Bathurst. He was an earnest advocate for federation and was elected one of the New South Wales representatives for the convention of 1897–98. At this convention he was a member with Sir Edmund Barton and Sir John Downer of the drafting committee which prepared the federation bill. This, with some amendments, eventually became the federal constitution.

O'Connor was elected to the Australian Senate in 1901 as a Senator for New South Wales. He was Vice-President of the Executive Council 1901-03 in the ministry of Edmund Barton. In 1903 he was appointed as a foundation Justice of the High Court of Australia, where he served until his death in 1912 of pernicious anaemia in St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney. He was survived by his wife Sarah Hensleigh, who he married in 1879, and four sons and two daughters. One daughter married Alexander Maclay, the son of Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai; the other married the composer Roy Agnew.

ee also

*Australian Commonwealth ministries 1901-2004

Notes

Persondata
NAME = O'Connor, Richard Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Australian politician and judge
DATE OF BIRTH = 4 August 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH = Glebe, New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH = 18 November 1912
PLACE OF DEATH = Darlinghurst, New South Wales