Robert McKee Bashford (December 31, 1845 – January 29, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 25th mayor ofMadison, Wisconsin, and representedDane County in theWisconsin State Senate from 1893 to 1897. He also served briefly as a justice of theWisconsin Supreme Court in 1908, after the death of Chief JusticeJohn B. Cassoday.

Born inFayette, Wisconsin,^[1] Bashford graduated from theUniversity of Wisconsin in 1870 and from theUniversity of Wisconsin Law School in 1871.^[1][2] He later received his master's degree from the university in 1874. In 1871, Bashford along with two others purchased theMadison Democrat newspaper, where Bashford was editor until 1876. He then practiced law inMadison, Wisconsin,^[2] and served as city attorney from 1881 to 1886. In 1886, he moved toChicago, Illinois, where he continued to practice law. While his firm was successful, he did not care for the work and moved back to Madison.

In 1890, Bashford became mayor of Madison, defeatingArthur Loomis Sanborn in the April election.^[3] During his tenure he assisted the state attorney general to prosecute former state treasurers of Wisconsin to get money they had collected from interest on the deposit of public funds. The state recovered nearly half a million dollars. From 1891 to 1895, he served in theWisconsin State Senate.^[1][2] He resumed his law practice, including arguing before theUnited States Supreme Court in the 1905 case ofUnited States v. Stinson, in which he successfully defended a land purchaser from the federal government's attempt to reclaim the land based on accusations of fraud.^[4] In 1908, Bashford was appointed to theWisconsin Supreme Court, but lost a special election for the position four months later.^[2] He resumed his law practice and was on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin Law School.^[5][6]

Bashford was the son of Reverend Samuel Morris Bashford and his wife, Mary Ann (McKee) Parkinson Bashford. Bashford's father died when he was only five years old. His mother remarried to William Pearce Trousdale, who became Bashford's stepfather.

Bashford's first wife was Florence E. Taylor, the second daughter of Wisconsin GovernorWilliam Robert Taylor. They had one daughter together before her death in 1886. Bashford remarried with Sarah Amelia Fuller, who survived him.^[7]

His former home, now known as theRobert M. Bashford House, is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.^[8][9]

• Robert McKee Bashford atFind a Grave

• People from Fayette, Wisconsin
• Lawyers from Madison, Wisconsin
• Politicians from Chicago
• University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
• University of Wisconsin Law School alumni
• Mayors of Madison, Wisconsin
• Wisconsin state senators
• Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
• 1845 births
• 1911 deaths
• 19th-century Wisconsin state court judges
• 19th-century American lawyers
• 19th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin
• Burials at Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin)
• 19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature

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