William Piddington

William Richman Piddington (1815 – 25 November 1887) was an Australian bookseller and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly between 1856 and 1877 and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1879 until his death. He served two brief terms as the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales in 1872 and 1877.

Early life

Piddington came from a family of booksellers and 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 stationary and book shop in Sydney. Philosophically a radical, he became politically active during the 1840s and 1850s and opposed the conservative constitution proposed by William Wentworth. 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 election under the new constitution Piddington successfully contested the seats of Northumberland and Hunter. When this seat was abolished at the 1859 election he transferred to the seat of Hawkesbury which he represented until 1877. In 1869, he accepted a life appointment to the Legislative Council.

Government

Piddington was the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales in two short lived governments of Henry Parkes in 1872 and 1877. 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'.

References

• "Mr William Richman Piddington (1815–1887)". Former members of the New South Wales Parliament, 1856–2006. New South Wales Parliament. Retrieved 2010-01-11. 
• D MacDonald. "Piddington, William (1815–1887)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 2010-01-11.