Richard Orchard

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 i... more

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. 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... less