Richard Lewis Jenkins (1815 – 13 August 1883) was a Welsh-born Australian politician. He was born at Newport in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, the son of Richard Jenkins. A qualified medical doctor, he migrated to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

for health reasons in 1841. After settling in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

, he married Mary Rae Johnstone, the daughter of the first magistrate. He bought land on the Peel and Namoi rivers. In 1857 he returned to

, and in 1858 he was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for Liverpool Plains and Gwydir. Re-elected for Gwydir in 1859, he was defeated in 1860. He was an early advocate for compulsory universal public education. Jenkins died at

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1883.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Richard Lewis 1815 births 1883 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 19th-century Australian politicians