The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Seddon, Hon. Richard John

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1446368The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Seddon, Hon. Richard JohnPhilip Mennell

Seddon, Hon. Richard John, M.H.R., Minister of Mines, New Zealand, son of Thomas Seddon and Jane (Lindsay) his wife, was born at Eccleston, near St. Helens, Lancashire, and emigrated to Melbourne, Vict., in 1863, being married at Williamstown, in that colony, on Jan. 13th, 1869, to Miss Louisa Jane Spotswood. Having removed to New Zealand, Mr. Seddon became a member of the Westland Provincial Council, and was Chairman of Committees of that body. He was also Chairman of the Westland County Council, and first Mayor of Kumara, to which post he was re-elected for a second term. Mr. Seddon was returned to the House of Representatives for Hokitika in 1879, and represented Kumara from 1881 to 1890, when he was returned for Westland, for which he still sits. Mr. Seddon, who is a mechanical engineer by profession and an associate of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, accepted office in the Ballance Ministry in Jan. 1891 as Minister of Mines.