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The Honourable
Richard Burges
The Honourable Richard Burges
Member of the Legislative Council; of Western Australia
	In office; 16 July 1894 – March 1903
Preceded by	None (new seat)
Succeeded by	Andrew Dempster
Constituency	East Province
Member of the Legislative Assembly; of Western Australia
	In office; 6 April 1903 – 25 September 1905
Preceded by	Frederick Monger
Succeeded by	Frederick Monger
Constituency	York
Personal details
Born	4 December 1847; York, Western Australia, Australia
Died	25 September 1905 (aged 57); Gawler, South Australia, Australia

Richard Goldsmith Burges (4 December 1847 – 25 September 1905) was an Australian pastoralist and politician who served in both houses of the Parliament of Western Australia. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1894 to 1903, and then served in the Legislative Assembly from 1903 until his death.

Burges was born in York, Western Australia, to Vittoria (née Meares) and Samuel Evans Burges. His older half-brother, Thomas Burges, was also a member of parliament, as were two of his uncles, William and Lockier Burges. Burges eventually took over Tipperary, his father's property near York, having earlier held various leases in the North-West. He was elected to the York Roads Board in 1882, and served until his death, including as chairman for a period. Burges entered parliament at the 1894 Legislative Council elections, as one of three members for the new East Province. He was re-elected in 1898, but resigned in March 1903 to contest a Legislative Assembly by-election for the seat of York, caused by the bankruptcy of Frederick Monger.^[1] Burges won the by-election, and was subsequently re-elected at the 1904 state election.^[2] He died in office in September 1905 (aged 57), having caught pneumonia while returning from a trip to the eastern states and then suffered heart failure.^[3] Burges had married Mona Phillips in 1878, with whom he had seven children. Both his father-in-law, Samuel Pole Phillips, and brother-in-law, Samuel James Phillips, were also members of parliament.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Richard Goldsmith Burges – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
^ Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). Election statistics : Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth, [W.A.]: Western Australian Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. ISBN 0730984095.
^ "MR. R. G. BURGES, M.L.A.", The Daily News, 26 September 1905.