Richard Abbott

Richard Hartley Smith Abbott (; 1858 – 28 February 1940) was an Australian businessman and politician. He was a Senator for Victoria from 1928 to 1929, representing the Country Party. He had diverse business interests in Bendigo, Victoria, and the surrounding area, and served terms as mayor of Bendigo and as a member of the Victorian Legislative Council.

Early life Abbott was born in 1858 in Bendigo, Victoria (then known as Sandhurst). He was the son of Ann (née Deague) and Richard Hartley Smith. His father, a bootmaker, died in 1858 and his mother re-married in 1860 to Joseph Henry Abbott. He formally adopted his step-father's surname in 1884.

Abbott attended Bendigo High School and received further education at St Andrews, Scotland. In 1879 he and his step-brother were taken on as partners in J. H. Abbott and Co., later known as the Abbott Supply Company. They took over the business fully in 1889 after Joseph Henry Abbott's election to the Victorian Legislative Council. Abbott developed diverse business interests, including farming properties at Eppalock, Lyell and Mandurang, and interests in local mines. He was a director of the Sandhurst Building Society and the Bendigo Gas Company, a trustee of the Bendigo School of Mines and Industries, and a fellow of the Royal Geological Society of Victoria.

Abbott was re-elected to the Legislative Council in 1922, by which time he had joined the Victorian Farmers' Union (later renamed the Victorian Country Party). The circumstances of his election were unusual, as Andrew had died a day after the 1928 federal election and Robert Elliott had been elected to a six-year term as the Country Party's lead candidate, commencing on 1 July 1929. Elliott would ordinarily have been elected to the casual vacancy, effectively beginning his term six months early, but Abbott decided to nominate for the vacancy and was narrowly elected over Elliott with support from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Country Progressive Party.

Abbott's Senate term ended on 30 June 1929 after just over six months.