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

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

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

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

in 1852. From 1853 he worked for the Castlemaine and Maryborough branches of the Bank of Victoria. 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 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

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 States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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 domesticate ...

, 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 House ...

for

Balranald Balranald is a town within the Local government in Australia, local government area of Balranald Shire, in the Murray (New South Wales), Murray region of far south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town of Balranald is located where the ...

. A

Free Trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

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 sma ...

the following year.

References

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