sketcher and solicitor, was born in London, eldest son of John Want, a surgeon, and Mary, née Nott. On 8 May 1829 he arrived at Sydney where he became a prominent solicitor, shale-mining developer and member of parliament (MLC 1856-61). Four small signed pencil drawings by Want dating from about 1843 – Government House, Windsor, New South Wales , View of Encampment in George’s River , Riverside Encampment and a view of Cook’s River Lakes -were sold at auction in 1986 in a collection of watercolours, pencil drawings and documents relating to the Underwood and Want families of Ashfield Park, Sydney. Also included was the will of John Want the elder (1850), two folders of family correspondence, an 1838 portrait of Randolph Want by William Nicholas and a portrait signed H.J.W. presumably of his wife Harriette, née Lister, whom he had married on 28 September 1839, and one of their nine children. After his death in 1869, Randolph C. Want continued the legal firm of Want & Want.

Although otherwise unknown as an artist, R.J. Want was on the Committee of Management for the Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Australia Exhibition at Sydney in 1849, was a member and later a councillor of the Australian Philosophical Society (subsequently Royal Society), a committee member of the Australasian Botanical and Horticultural Society and a trustee of the Australian Museum.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011