| Richard Smith | |
| Office: | Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council |
| Term Start: | 1 March 1853 |
| Term End: | 29 February 1856 |
| Office1: | Member of the Queensland Legislative Council |
| Term Start1: | 3 July 1863 |
| Term End1: | 12 June 1866 |
| Birth Date: | 1819 |
| Birth Place: | Leicester, England |
| Death Place: | Ipswich, Queensland, Australia |
| Restingplace: | Ipswich General Cemetery |
| Birthname: | Richard Joseph Smith |
| Nationality: | English Australian |
| Spouse: | Maria Susanna Stutchbury (m.1861 d.1888) |
| Occupation: | Business owner, Commissioner of Crown Lands |
Richard Joseph Smith (1819 – 15 November 1883) was a member of both the New South Wales Legislative Council and the Queensland Legislative Council.[1]
Smith was born at Leicester, England in 1819 to Richard Smith and arrived in New South Wales as a young boy around 1824. By 1847 he had travelled to Brisbane and established a boiling down works at Kangaroo Point. In 1849 he established the Town Marie Boiling Down Works on the Bremer River at Karalee, near Ipswich.[1]
Smith became an elected member of the New South Wales Legislative Council on 1 March 1853, representing the Pastoral Districts of Moreton, Wide Bay, Burnett, and Maranoa. His term ended on 29 February 1856.[2]
After Queensland had separated from New South Wales, Smith was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council on 3 July 1863.[1] Smith was declared insolvent in 1866 and as a consequence resigned from the Council.[1]
The Governor of Queensland appointed Richard Joseph Smith to be First Lieutenant of the Cavalry of the Queensland Volunteer Rifle Corps on 26 May 1860.[3]
After his resignation he became a crown law agent in Ipswich, before his appointment as a land commissioner in the Moreton area.
In 1861, Smith married Maria Susanna Stutchbury in Brisbane and together they had one daughter.[1] He died in 1883[1] and was buried in Ipswich General Cemetery.[4]