Richard Wood (13 March 1839 – 1 January 1923) was an Australian politician. He was the member for

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

from 1893 to 1902. He was a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member from 1893 until he was expelled in 1897. He was re-elected in his own right in 1899, but was defeated in 1902. Wood was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and became a blacksmith, working in the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

locomotive works, at the

Royal Small Arms Factory The Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) was a UK government-owned rifle factory in Enfield (though some parts were in Waltham Abbey), adjoining the Lee Navigation in the Lea Valley. The factory produced British military rifles, muskets and swords f ...

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

and at the

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Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

. He migrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1866 and worked in a number of ironworks, blacksmiths and foundries in

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and

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, interspersed with a decade-long stint at the

South Australian Gas Company The South Australian Gas Company (later known as SAGASCO) was formed in 1861 twenty-five years after the colony of South Australia was first settled. The establishment of gasworks from 1863 provided not only industry and employment but also stree ...

's Brompton Gasworks, and then at the

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.United Trades and Labour Council in 1892. He was also president and vice-president of the Adelaide Working Men's Patriotic Association and a Primitive Methodist preacher. Wood was elected to the House of Assembly at the 1893 election, defeating MP and former Adelaide mayor Lewis Cohen to become one of the first Labor MPs in South Australia. Shortly after his election, he faced allegations of having engaged in

bigamy In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

when a son from a previous marriage in

arrived in South Australia. He was regarded as a political moderate, and supported

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

in defiance of the party platform. He was nonetheless re-elected for Labor in 1896, but was expelled from the party in 1897 following his support of Labor defector

David Charleston David Morley Charleston (27 May 1848 – 30 June 1934) was a Cornish people, Cornish-born Australian politician. Born in St Erth, Cornwall, he received only a primary education before becoming an apprentice engineer at Harvey & Co ironworks, and ...

in Charleston's independent candidacy at a by-election that year. He was re-elected in 1899 with the support of the Free Trade Association. Wood opposed the drinking of alcohol, and attempted on several occasions to abolish the bar in

Parliament House Parliament House may refer to: Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * Parliament House, Darwin, Parliame ...

. Wood contested the inaugural 1901 federal election as a

Free Trade Party The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party, formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales, ...

candidate, but was comfortably defeated. Adelaide magazine ''

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'' summarised Wood's 1901 federal platform as "revenue tariff on Freetrade lines, old age pensions, uniform franchise, white Australia". He ran for re-election in his state seat in 1902, but was defeated. He subsequently unsuccessfully contested a Legislative Council by-election in 1903. He lived in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

for the last eighteen years of his life, the last years spent at Dongarra, where he continued to preach in the Methodist church and was a frequent exhibitor at the Irwin Agricultural Show. He died at his daughter's home at Yalgoo in 1923 after a short illness and was buried at Dongara Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Richard 1839 births 1923 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly People from Paddington