Richard John Seddon (1845-1906) was a New Zealand political leader and Liberal prime minister who instituted liberal reforms and advocated imperial solidarity and expansion.

Richard John Seddon was born at St. Helens, Lancashire, England, on June 22, 1845, the son of a schoolmaster. He left school at the age of 12 and at 18 emigrated to Australia, where he worked on the goldfields in Victoria. He moved on to New Zealand in 1866 and established himself as a hotelkeeper. He entered local politics in 1869 and 10 years later transferred to the House of Representatives as a Liberal.

Seddon soon showed himself to be an astute party manager, a hard worker, and a loud, forceful, and verbose speaker who had little time for experts and possessed a strong faith in the virtues of the common man. In 1891 he became minister of public works, defense, and mines in the Liberal government, and in 1892, when John Ballance...