General Sir Richard Bourke KCB (4 May 1777 – 12 August 1855), was an Irish-born Governor of New South Wales, 1831–37.
As a lifelong Whig (Liberal), he encouraged the emancipation of convicts and helped bring forward the ending of transportation. In this, he faced strong opposition from the military/conservative establishment and its press. He approved a new settlement on the Yarra River, and named it Melbourne, in honour of the incumbent British Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Bourke was educated at Westminster and read law at Christ Church, Oxford. He was a cousin of Edmund Burke and spent school and university holidays at Burke's home, and acquired some influential friends. He joined the British Army as an ensign in the Grenadier Guards on 22 November 1798, serving in the Netherlands with the Duke of York before a posting in South America in 1807 where he participated in the siege and storming of Montevideo. He was promoted major-general in 1821. He retired from the army after the Peninsular War to live on his Irish estate but eventually sought Government office to increase his income. He was appointed to the Cape Colony and was promoted to Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern District of the Cape of Good Hope, acting as Governor for both eastern and Western Districts. Under Bourke's governorship, much was done to reform the old, mercantilist system of government inherited from the Dutch East India Company at the Cape.
The Honourable Richard Bourke (22 April 1767 – 15 November 1832) was the last Bishop of Waterford and Lismore before it merged with the defunct Ecclesiastical Province of Cashel.
Born into an aristocratic family, he was educated at Christ Church Oxford. He was Prebendary of Tuam in 1791, Rector of Templemichael and of Mohill in 1795 and Dean of Ardagh in 1800 before his elevation to the episcopacy.