Robert Owen (8 August 1799 – 25 November 1878) was a politician,

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

and judge in colonial

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

; a member of 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 ...

, and later, the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

Early life

Owen was born in

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and was articled to a solicitor in 1813. On 20 April 1820, he was admitted as a solicitor in England. Owen purchased a small schooner and sailed to Australia.Owen was the Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council in the a member of the New South Wales solicitors firm Carr, Rogers, and Owen.

Politics

Owen was elected to the seat of East Camden in the Legislative Assembly at the election on 22 January 1858. He held this position until 3 March 1859, when seat was declared vacant on his acceptance of an appointment as a judge of the District Court, filling the position created by the resignation of

John Hargrave John Gordon Hargrave (6 June 1894 – 21 November 1982), (woodcraft name 'White Fox'), was a prominent youth leader and politician in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s, Head Man of the Kibbo Kift, described in his obituary as an 'author, c ...

. Hargrave in turn replaced Owen as the member for East Camden at the resulting by-election. Owen served on the district court until 30 June 1861. On 8 December 1868, Owen was appointed to the Legislative Council, a position he held until his death on 25 November 1878. Owen was the Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council in the second Robertson and fifth Cowper ministries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Robert 1799 births 1878 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council People from Tynemouth Politicians from Tyne and Wear English emigrants to colonial Australia 19th-century Australian politicians Judges of the District Court of NSW 19th-century Australian judges Colony of New South Wales judges