Richard Baker (1830 – 10 March 1915) was an Australian politician. Born in the village of Newbridge, in the parish of Shalfleet on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

to Peter Baker and Ruth Tucker, he attended a grammar school at

Shalfleet Shalfleet is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. it is located between Yarmouth and Newport in the northwest of the island. Background The name "Shalfleet" means "shallow stream". The stream in this case is the stream passing th ...

and arrived in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1854, settling as a miner in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

. He married Caroline Saunders, with whom he had seven children. In 1883 he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

as the member for

Wimmera The Victorian government's Wimmera Southern Mallee subregion is part of the Grampians region in western Victoria. It includes most of what is considered the Wimmera, and part of the southern Mallee region. The subregion is based on the social ...

, changing seats to Lowan in 1889, which he represented until 1894. From 1893 to 1894 he was Minister of Public Instruction. Baker died at Caulfield in 1915.

References

1830 births 1915 deaths Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Vice-presidents of the Board of Land and Works Politicians from the Colony of Victoria British emigrants to the Colony of Victoria Politicians from the Isle of Wight Politicians from Melbourne Politicians from Ballarat Ministers for education (Victoria) {{Australia-politician-stub Commissioners of trade and customs (Victoria)