| William Rickford Collett | |
| Office: | Member of Parliament for Lincoln |
| Term Start: | 30 June 1841 |
| Term End: | 29 July 1847 |
| Predecessor: | Charles Sibthorp Edward Bulwer-Lytton |
| Successor: | Charles Sibthorp Charles Seely |
| Alongside: | Charles Sibthorp |
| Birth Date: | 1810 |
| Nationality: | British |
| Party: | Conservative |
William Rickford Collett (1810–1882)[1] was a British mine owner[2] and Conservative politician.[3] Collett was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Lincoln at the 1841 general election and held the seat until 1847 when he stood for election but was defeated.[4] [3]
Collett was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in 1810.[5] In the 1837 United Kingdom general election, he unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for Boston in Lincolnshire.[6] Between 1841 and 1847, he served as the Member of Parliament for Lincoln.[5]
In the late 1840s or early 1850s, Collett moved to New South Wales, becoming a director of the Australian Mutual Mining Association.[5] In 1854, he was appointed the Commissioner for Roads for the colony, undertaking surveying work on the Northern Road between Morpeth and Murrurundi.[5] In March 1864, Collett moved to New Zealand, becoming the Chief Superintendent of Roads and Bridges.[5] In this role, he facilitated the construction of rail south of Pōkeno, connecting the Mangatāwhiri River south to Meremere, and preparing the initial designs of the Panmure Bridge in Auckland.[5]
Collett was declared insolvent due to financial difficulties in 1866, due to the foreclosure of a gold mining venture at Denison Town, New South Wales which he had financed. He returned to the British Isles,[5] contesting a seat for the Conservative Party for the 1869 Tipperary by-election, however was unsuccessful, receiving only 12 votes.[7]
Collett died in 1882, and was buried at Deans Grange Cemetery in Dublin.[5]