William Richman Piddington (1815 – 25 November 1887) was an Australian bookseller and politician. He was 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 ...

between 1856 and 1877 and a member of 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 ...

from 1879 until his death. He served two brief terms as the

Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French colonial architecture * Spanish colonial architecture Automobiles * Col ...

in 1872 and 1877.

Early life

Piddington was born in the parish of Newington St Mary, Surrey, England on 8 March 1813, to parents Bythima (née Richman) and William Weston Piddington. Being from a family of booksellers, William Richman Piddington was initially apprenticed to a bookshop in Bond Street, London. He emigrated to Sydney in 1838 and after farming for a short time on the Hunter River established a stationery and book shop at 332 George St, Sydney (replaced in 1906 by the Eastway Brothers' Building). Philosophically a radical, he became politically active during the 1840s and 1850s and opposed the conservative constitution proposed by

William Wentworth William Charles Wentworth (August 179020 March 1872) was an Australian statesman, pastoralist, explorer, newspaper editor, lawyer, politician and author, who became one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures in colonial New South Wales. He ...

. He was a member of the committee of the Anti-Transportation League and an alderman of the Sydney Municipal Council in 1851.

Colonial Parliament

At the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

election under the new constitution Piddington successfully contested the seats of Northumberland and Hunter. When this seat was abolished at the

1859 Events January–March * January 21 – José Mariano Salas (1797–1867) becomes Conservative interim President of Mexico. * January 24 ( O. S.) – Under the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia are uni ...

election he transferred to the seat of Hawkesbury which he represented until 1877. In 1879, he accepted a life appointment to the Legislative Council, where he was Chairman of Committees from March 1885 until his death.

Government

Piddington was the Colonial Treasurer in the first ministry of

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and the longest-serving non-consecutive Premier of New South Wales, premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in ...

in May 1872 but resigned in December due to ill health. He was again colonial treasurer in the second Parkes ministry, losing his seat at the 1877 election. He supported the extension of the rural railway network and was a strong opponent of state aid for religious schools. In his later years his political opinions became more conservative and he opposed the granting of universal male suffrage. He was described by David Buchanan as "a little, squat, burly piece of pompous vulgarity" who "abandoned all his political opinions and turned Tory", however MacDonald notes "he supported such liberal measures as Parkes's 1866 Education Act, opposed state aid for public worship as 'contrary to the spirit of Christianity' and contributed to the rebuilding of St Mary's Cathedral."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piddington, William 1815 births 1887 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Treasurers of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Australian booksellers 19th-century Australian businesspeople Chairman of Committees of the New South Wales Legislative Council