Richard Henry Wilde | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia | |
| In office November 17, 1827 – March 3, 1835 | |
| Preceded by | John Forsyth |
| Succeeded by | John W. A. Sanford |
| Constituency | 2nd district (1827–1829) at-large district (1829–1835) |
| In office February 7, 1825 – March 3, 1825 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas W. Cobb |
| Succeeded by | James Meriwether |
| Constituency | at-large district |
| In office March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817 | |
| Preceded by | William Barnett |
| Succeeded by | Joel Abbot |
| Constituency | at-large district |
| 14thAttorney General of Georgia | |
| In office 1811–1813 | |
| Preceded by | Alexander M. Allen |
| Succeeded by | Alexander M. Allen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1789-09-24)September 24, 1789 |
| Died | September 10, 1847(1847-09-10) (aged 57) New Orleans,Louisiana, U.S. |
| Resting place | City Cemetery,Augusta, Georgia, United States |
| Party | Democratic-Republican |
Richard Henry Wilde (September 24, 1789 – September 10, 1847) was aUnited States representative and lawyer fromGeorgia.
Wilde was born inDublin, Ireland, in 1789 to Richard Wilde and Mary Newitt, but came to America at age eight[1] and moved toAugusta, Georgia, in 1802. His brother was Judge John W. Wilde, a judge of Augusta, Georgia. He was a businessman and studied law. After gaining admittance to the statebar in 1809, Wilde practiced law in Augusta. He served as the solicitor general of the superior court ofRichmond County, Georgia, and was also the attorney general of Georgia from 1811 to 1813 as a result of holding the Richmond County position.
In 1814, Wilde was elected as aDemocratic-Republican Representative to the14th United States Congress and served one term from March 4, 1815, until March 3, 1817, as he lost his reelection campaign in 1816. UponThomas W. Cobb's resignation, Wilde successfully ran as a Crawford Republican to fill that seat in the18th Congress and served only a month from February 7, 1825, to March 3, 1825. After several more unsuccessful Congressional campaigns in 1824 and 1826, Wilde ran again in 1827 as a Jacksonian to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofJohn Forsyth and won election to fill that term. He was reelected to three additional terms (21st,22nd and23rd Congresses) in that seat and served from November 17, 1827, to March 3, 1835.
In 1828 he established theCasa Bianca Plantation, anantebellumcotton plantation southwest of Monticello inJefferson County,Florida, in a partnership with was created byJoseph Mills White (1781–1839).
Wilde lost his reelection campaign in 1834 and traveled in Europe from 1835 to 1840. In Italy he associated withEdward Everett,Horatio Greenough,Hiram Powers andCharles Sumner.[2]
In 1843, Wilde moved toNew Orleans, returned to the practice of law and served as a professor of constitutional law at the University of Louisiana at New Orleans (current-dayTulane University). Wilde died in New Orleans on September 10, 1847, and was interred in a vault in a cemetery in New Orleans. In 1854, he was reinterred at Sand Hill family burying ground near Augusta and then reinterred an additional time in 1886 in Augusta's City Cemetery.
Wilde wrote a well known poemHesperia about thegeography andtopography of the United States.[1] Hismagnum opus was an unfinished poem called "My life is like the Summer Rose" that he wrote to remember his brother, James Wilde, who was killed in aduel.[3] He wrote several other works, promptingRufus Wilmot Griswold to consider including him in one of his influential anthologies. Though he did provide several pieces for Griswold to include, Wilde responded, "As literature does no good for an advocate's reputation, I should be pleased if you will give my place... to somebody else."[4]: 56 The only complete book-length work published in his lifetime wasConjectures and Researches concerning the Love, Madness, and Imprisonment ofTorquato Tasso (1842). Two works left incomplete wereLife and Times ofDante andSpecimens of the Italian Lyric Poets.[4]: 52
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's at-large congressional district March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's at-large congressional district February 7, 1825 – March 3, 1825 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's 2nd congressional district November 17, 1827 – March 3, 1829 | Succeeded by Redistricted toAt Large Districts |
| Preceded by Redistricted | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's at-large congressional district March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1835 | Succeeded by |
