The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Mansfield, Rev. Ralph

1407092The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Mansfield, Rev. RalphPhilip Mennell

Mansfield, Rev. Ralph, was born at Toxteth Park, Liverpool, on March 12th, 1799, and was ordained a minister of the Wesleyan Church in 1820, arriving in Sydney, N.S.W., in Oct. of the latter year. He was stationed in Sydney for two years and in Parramatta and Windsor during 1823, when he was sent to Van Diemen's Land, where he remained at Hobart Town till 1825, when he returned to Sydney and discharged ministerial functions till 1828. He was editor of the Sydney Gazette, the first newspaper published in New South Wales, from 1829 to 1832, and was leader-writer for another Sydney newspaper, the Colonist, for several years. From 1841 he contributed to the Sydney Morning Herald. In 1836 he presided at a public meeting held in Sydney to promote the lighting of the city with gas. A gas-light company was formed, of which Mr. Mansfield was secretary from June 29th, 1836, till his death in June 1880.