Richard Crouch

Richard Crouch
Crouch in 1929
Member of the Australian Parliament for Corio
In office 29 March 1901 – 13 April 1910
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Alfred Ozanne
Member of the Australian Parliament for Corangamite
In office 12 October 1929 – 19 December 1931
Preceded by	William Gibson
Succeeded by	William Gibson
Personal details
Born	(1868-06-19)19 June 1868 Ballarat East, Victoria
Died	7 April 1949(1949-04-07) (aged 80) Queenscliff, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Protectionist (1901–09) Liberal (1909–10) Labor (1929–31)
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Profession	Barrister and Solicitor

Richard Crouch, Protectionist and CLP MP for Corio 1901-1910

Richard Armstrong Crouch (19 June 1868 – 7 April 1949) was an Australian politician.

Crouch was born on at Ballarat East, Victoria, the son of George Crouch from Tottenham, London, who was a miner, storekeeper and later a wealthy boot-retailer, and his wife Selina Durham, née Marks, from Aberdeen, Scotland.

In 1901, Crouch was elected to the new Federal Parliament for the electorate of Corio, with a majority of 1,130 votes, as a member of the Protectionist Party (later the Commonwealth Liberal Party). He served for nine years, under the leadership of Alfred Deakin, and was at the time the youngest member of the lower house. He gained recognition as a wit and a radical, and was outspoken on the delicate matter of lavish allowances for the Governor General.

Crouch enthusiastically supported new trends in Australian defence policies. He joined the militia in 1892, and by the outbreak of World War I had attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. In March 1915, he was given command of the 22nd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, which landed at Gallipoli in September 1915. Crouch was transferred to command the Base Camp at Mudros in December 1915, but illness led to his return to Australia in March 1916.

Although a strong advocate for national defence, Crouch did not support the proposal to introduce compulsory overseas service. He became Victorian branch president of the Returned Soldiers' No-Conscription League, and campaigned against prime minister Billy Hughes during the conscription plebiscites in 1916 and 1917. Encouraged by James Scullin, Crouch joined the Labor Party and became an active leader of the Labor movement in Victoria. In 1924 he represented Australia at the International Federation of Trade Unions Education Conference in Oxford.

In 1929, Crouch was re-elected to the federal parliament for the electorate of Corangamite, representing the Labor Party. Defeated two years later, he decided to forsake politics for philanthropy, travel, writing, and encouraging Australians to take a greater interest in their history. He was the donor of the first six busts at Prime Ministers Avenue at Ballarat, and bequeathed funds for maintaining the project.

Crouch remained unmarried during his lifetime and in his later years lived with his sister Gertrude at Point Lonsdale, Victoria in the house their father had built in 1882. He died aged 80 on 7 April 1949, leaving an estate valued at £43,490, and was buried at Point Lonsdale.

References

• Australian Dictionary of Biography - Crouch, Richard Armstrong (1868 - 1949)