Robert Wardell

Robert Wardell (1793 – 7 September 1834) was an English-born Australian barrister and newspaper editor.

Early life Wardell was born in England and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated 1810, gained his LL.B. in 1817 and a LL.D. in 1823. Wardell was editor and proprietor of the Statesman, a London evening paper, when in 1819 he met William Charles Wentworth.

In 1823, Wardell applied for the new position of attorney-general in New South Wales but was unsuccessful; the position went instead to Saxe Bannister.

In 1831 Governor Darling was informed by Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich that his six-year term as governor would soon be expiring; he was replaced by the liberal-minded Governor Richard Bourke. Wardell, who by then was the sole editor of the paper, mellowed and his writings became less fierce.

Wardell was killed by an escaped convict on 7 September 1834.

Popular culture Wardell appears as a character in the radio play Spoiled Darlings and the mini series The Patriots.