Richard Edwards (Australian politician)

Richard Edwards
Member of the Australian Parliament for Oxley
In office 30 March 1901 – 23 April 1913
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	James Sharpe
Personal details
Born	1842 Montgomeryshire, Wales
Died	29 October 1915 (aged 72–73)
Nationality	Welsh Australian
Political party	Protectionist (1901–06) Anti-Socialist (1906–09) Liberal (1909–13)
Occupation	Businessman

Richard Edwards (1842 – 29 October 1915) was an Australian politician. He was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives.

Richard Edwards was born in 1842 in Montgomeryshire, Wales. He immigrated to Australia in 1862, becoming first a goldminer in Victoria and then a shopkeeper in Brisbane. He invested in both sugar and newspapers.

In the first federal election in 1901, Edwards was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the member for Oxley. Although there was no protectionist organisation in Queensland, he described himself as such and sat with the Protectionist Party in Parliament. In 1906, he defected to the Anti-Socialist Party; after the fusion of 1909, he was a Liberal member.

He retired from politics in 1913, due to ailing health, becoming a businessman, publisher and philanthropist.

Edwards died at his residence Bryntirion on Wickham Terrace on 29 October 1915. He was buried in Toowong Cemetery.

His drapery store, the Edwards and Chapman Building in Queen Street, Brisbane is now listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.

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