Richard Orchard

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Richard Beaumont Orchard CBE (14 October 1871 – 24 July 1942) was an Australian politician.

Orchard was born at Cockatoo, near Maryborough, Victoria and moved with his family to Sydney in the 1870s. He spent four years as a travelling jewellery salesman in rural New South Wales. In 1895, when he married Maria Annie Austen, he was a photographer living in the Sydney suburb of Ultimo. He later became a watchmaker and established a jewellery store in George Street, Sydney in 1901, which became a public company in 1913 as R. B. Orchard Ltd.^[1]

[edit] Political career

Orchard ran unsuccessfully for the Sydney Municipal Council in 1909 and the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Hawkesbury in 1911. He won the Australian House of Representatives seat of Nepean at the 1913 election for the Commonwealth Liberal Party. He joined Billy Hughes' Nationalist government in 1917 and was appointed an Honorary Minister with responsibility for recruiting from March 1918 to January 1919. He retired from politics at the November 1919 election.^[1]

Orchard was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920. He ran unsuccessfully as a Nationalist for the seat of East Sydney at the 1925 election, and for the Senate in 1928 election. He was a commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission from its foundation in 1932 until 1939. He died in the Sydney suburb of Darling Point survived by his wife, a son and three daughters.^[1]

[edit] Notes

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by George Cann	Member for Nepean 1913 – 1919	Succeeded by Eric Bowden

Persondata
NAME	Orchard, Richard Beaumont
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH	14 October 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cockatoo, near Maryborough, Victoria
DATE OF DEATH	24 July 1942
PLACE OF DEATH	Darling Point, New South Wales