Richard Dore

Richard Dore (1749–1800) was an attorney, deputy judge advocate and secretary to the governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Australia in the late 18th century. He was the second person to hold office as deputy judge advocate, a position akin to the position of chief justice in the colony, and the first legally qualified person to do so. Author Robert Hughes described Dore as a "blundering and cantankerous incompetent, much given to petty graft". In reality, he was probably no worse than other deputy judge advocates who served before or after him.

Dore was probably born in Chipping Ongar, Essex, England in 1749. Whilst his precise date of birth is not known, he was baptized on 21 March of that year. He was the son of William Dore, who was an attorney in the Court of Common Pleas.

Dore was indentured as a clerk to his father in his father's practice, and Dore subsequently was admitted as an attorney of the same court as his father on 12 February 1772.

On 12 April 1782, he married Maria Nassau at St Marylebone.

On 9 September 1797 he was commissioned as deputy judge advocate of the colony of New South Wales, which had been founded just nine years previously. He subsequently sailed for Sydney on the Barwell and arrived in the colony on 18 May 1798 accompanied by one of his sons. His wife and other children remained in England.

The position of judge advocate was an important role in the colony, although not as important as the governor’s secretary. The judge advocate presided with four military officers in the Court of Criminal Jurisdiction which decided all capital offences in the colony. The judge advocate presided with two justices of the peace in the Court of Civil Jurisdiction which dealt with civil matters in the colony. The judge advocate was also commissioned as a justice of the peace, and would sit with other justices to constitute Courts of Petty Sessions. Dore continued the practice of David Collins, the first judge-advocate, to sit each week in the Bench of Magistrate sittings. These sittings determined less serious criminal charges. His attendance was so regular that when he missed a sittings due to illness, the court clerk recorded his unusual absence in the court records.

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