Richard Hanson (Australian politician)

Sir Richard Hanson
4th Premier of South Australia
In office 30 September 1857 – 8 May 1860
Monarch	Victoria
Governor	Sir Richard MacDonnell
Preceded by	Robert Torrens
Succeeded by	Thomas Reynolds
Personal details
Born	Richard Davies Hanson 6 December 1805 London, England, UK
Died	4 March 1876 (aged 70) Mount Lofty, South Australia
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Ann Hopgood

Sir Richard Davies Hanson (6 December 1805 – 4 March 1876), was the fourth Premier of South Australia, from 30 September 1857 until 8 May 1860, and was a Chief Judge from 20 November 1861 until 4 March 1876 on the Supreme Court of South Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of South Australia.

Life

Hanson was born in London, the second son of Benjamin Hanson, a fruit merchant and importer, and was educated at a private school in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire. Admitted a solicitor in 1828, he practised for briefly in London, becoming a disciple of Edward Gibbon Wakefield in connection with his colonization schemes. Hanson joined the Globe as a political critic early in 1837. In 1838 he went with Lord Durham to Canada as assistant commissioner of inquiry into crown lands and immigration. Hanson worked with Dominick Daly in Canada.

In 1840, on the death of Lord Durham, Hanson settled in Wellington, New Zealand. He there acted as crown prosecutor, but in 1846 moved to South Australia. On his arrival in the colony of South Australia in 1846, Hanson immediately set up a legal practice. He served as Advocate-General and Attorney-General for the colony before election to the seat of City of Adelaide in 1857.

In 1851 Hanson was appointed advocate-general of the colony and took an active share in the passing of many important measures, such as the first Education Act, the District Councils Act of 1852, and the Act of 1856 which granted constitutional government to the colony. In 1856 he was attorney-general in the first ministry under Boyle Travers Finniss; becoming premier himself in 1857. Among the acts passed were the first patents act, an insolvency act, a partial consolidation of the criminal law, and the Torrens real property act, though he was at first opposed to this measure. He also passed an act legalizing marriage with a deceased wife's sister, the first of its kind in the Empire, but the royal assent was refused on this occasion.

After leaving parliament, Hanson replaced Sir Charles Cooper as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1861. He was knighted in 1869 by Queen Victoria when he visited England, and was acting Governor of South Australia for 1872–73. In his spare time Hanson gave much time to theological studies. His publications include Law in Nature and Other Papers (1865), The Jesus of History (1869), Letters to and from Rome (1869), The Apostle Paul, and the Preaching of Christianity in the Primitive Church (1875). He died in Australia on 4 March 1876.

Personal life

Freemasonry was an integral part of Hanson's personal life. He was elected as a member and initiated into the Craft on 27 November 1834 in London when The Lodge of Friendship, a Lodge especially founded to become South Australia's first Lodge, held its very first meeting. Later he was to rise in position within the Lodge, which still exists to the present day, and ultimately served as its Master.

His summer residence, Woodhouse, near Piccadilly, South Australia, is today owned by the South Australian Scout Association, and used for Scout leader training and private functions and accommodation; the extensive grounds are used for camping and outdoor adventuring.^[1]

Richard's brother William Hanson (1810–1875) was an architect and engineer who played a decisive role in the early history of South Australia's railways and waterworks.

Legacy

In 1837 Hanson Street in Adelaide was named after him. The street was later subsumed by the expanded Pulteney Street in 1967.

The Parliament of South Australia lower house seat of Hanson, created in 1970 and renamed to Ashford in 2002, was named after him.

The South Australian town of Hanson was also named after him.^[2]

See also

• Judiciary of Australia

Notes

1. http://www.woodhouse.org.au/
2. Towns and other places in the District, www.burrahistory.info Retrieved on 8 November 2014

References

•  Boase, George Clement (1890). "Hanson, Richard Davies". In Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography 24. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• 'Hanson, Sir Richard Davies (1805 - 1876)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 336–340. Retrieved 20 January 2009
• Serle, Percival (1949). "Hanson, Richard". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "^{article name needed}". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

• South Australian Parliament - Hanson