Robert Bliss Wilkinson (1838 – 26 April 1928) was an English-born Australian politician. He was born in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

to engineer David Wilkinson and Elizabeth Bliss. He attended Hanwell College before migrating to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 1852. From 1853 he worked for the Castlemaine and Maryborough branches of the

Bank of Victoria A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

. He ran a station near

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

from 1865 in partnership with J.S. Lavender; they sold out after a few years and became stock agents in 1870, running out of

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 ...

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

, Wagga Wagga and Bourke. On 15 November 1882 he married Alice Georgiana Foss Jarrett; they had no children, but a second marriage on 26 February 1890 to Annie Louise Leitch (''née'' Lavender) resulted in three children. Robert Bliss and Annie Louisa Wilkinson are buried directly alongside Alice Georgiana Foss Wilkinson behind St. Thomas' church in South Strathfield (formerly known as Enfield). In 1880 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

Balranald Balranald is a town within the local government area of Balranald Shire, in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The town of Balranald is located where the Sturt Highway crosses the Murrumbidgee River in a remote, semi-deser ...

. A

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 ...

r, he held his seat until his retirement in 1894. In 1901 he became managing director of Wilkinson & Lavender, retiring in 1927. Wilkinson died at

Strathfield Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A smal ...

the following year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Robert 1838 births 1928 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Free Trade Party politicians