Robert Dalrymple Ross
Sir Robert Dalrymple Ross was an army officer, politician and businessman.
He was born at St Vincent in the West Indies, son of John Pemberton Ross, Speaker of the House of Assembly at St Vincent, and his wife, the only daughter of Dr Alexander Anderson. He was educated in England, joined the British army in 1855, and commissioned in 1856.
Ross was appointed to South Australia in 1862 as head of the Commissariat Department and was briefly aide-de-camp to Governor Daly. On 10 August 1865 in Adelaide he married Mary Anstice, daughter of John Baker, and bought Highercombe at Gumeracha. In 1869 he went to England, and in 1870 to Ireland, but a little later he resigned his commission to return to Australia.
In 1875 after being defeated for Gumeracha, Ross entered the House of Assembly for Wallaroo and from June 1876 to October 1877 was Treasurer of South Australia in the Colton ministry. In 1881-87 he was Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly. He represented Gumeracha in 1884-87 and was knighted in 1886.
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Ross died in hospital at North Adelaide on 27 December 1887 and was buried, after a state funeral, in St George's cemetery, Woodforde.
