Robert Stopford (12 February 1862 – 28 January 1926) was an English-born Australian politician.
He is the great-great-grandfather of comedian and actressRebel Wilson.
He was born atUpholland inLancashire, to property owner John Stopford and Jane Elizabeth,née Yates. He attendedUniversity College, Liverpool, and became a medical practitioner, working in Ireland andSouthport before travelling to New Zealand in 1902 and settling in Wellington.[1] Stopford had been a supporter of theLiberal Party in England but joined theIndependent Political Labour League (forerunner to the present dayNew Zealand Labour Party) whilst living there. Stopford also became involved in thePlunket Society, an infant welfare movement founded byTruby King. In 1905 he moved to Auckland accepting a job running the local hydropath institute. Whilst there he was also elected a member of theAuckland City Council in1907.[2] Stopford was the only successful candidate from the Labour ticket and became the first ever Labour candidate elected to the city council. He thought of politics as a means of advancing child welfare.[1]
In 1911 he arrived in Sydney and settled inBalmain, where he ran a children's clinic. Just as in New Zealand he supported theLabor Party in Australia until 1917, when he joined theNationalist Party over the issue ofconscription. From 1922 to 1925 he served as a Nationalist member of theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly forBalmain.[3] Stopford died in Balmain in 1926.[4]
| New South Wales Legislative Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member forBalmain 1922–1925 With:Tom Keegan Albert Lane John Quirk Robert Stuart-Robertson | Succeeded by |
