{{short description|American politician}}
'''Horatio Needham''' (April 21, 1796–July 8, 1863) was a Vermont politician and lawyer who served as Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives.
==Biography== Horatio Needham was born in Whiting, Vermont on April 21, 1796. He was educated in the local schools and began to study law in 1817. Needham was admitted to the bar in 1821 and established a practice in Bristol.<ref>[http://midddigital.middlebury.edu/SharingVTHistory/BooksPamphlets/HAC/chap10HAC.html History of Addison County, Vermont] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330201431/http://midddigital.middlebury.edu/SharingVTHistory/BooksPamphlets/HAC/chap10HAC.html |date=2012-03-30 }}, edited by H. P. Smith (Syracuse), 1886, pages 156 to 157</ref>
A Democrat who followed the tenets of the Free Soil movement, Needham was Bristol's Town Clerk for five years and a member of the board of selectmen for six.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/vermontyearbook18331839ches#page/n73/mode/2up Walton's Register and Farmer's Almanac], published by E. P. Walton (Montpelier), 1833, page 66</ref>
In 1849 Needham was the Free Soil nominee for governor, losing a close race to Whig Carlos Coolidge.<ref>[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201849/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201849%20-%200669.pdf Newspaper article, Democratic and Free Soil Nominations], New York Herald, June 3, 1849</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120215210847/http://vermont-archives.org/govhistory/governance/Majority/pdf/1849.pdf Results of 1849 election for Vermont Governor]}}, Office of the Vermont Secretary of State, State Archives and Records administration, 2006, page 1</ref>
He was a Delegate to the Vermont constitutional conventions of 1843, 1850 and 1857.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6EsIAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22horatio+needham%22+vermont+constitutional+convention+1843&pg=PA5 Journal of the Constitutional Convention], published by J. T. Marston (Montpelier), 1843, page 5</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uM1OAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22horatio+needham%22+vermont+constitutional+convention&pg=PA6 Journal of the Constitutional Convention], Sentinel Printers (Burlington), 1850, page 6</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=x81OAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22horatio+needham%22+vermont+constitutional+convention&pg=PA18 Journal of the Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention], published by George J. Stacy (Burlington), 1857, page 6</ref>
Active in the state militia, in 1851 the Vermont General Assembly appointed Needham commander of the 3rd Brigade with the rank of Brigadier General.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ciobAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22horatio+needham%22+brigadier+general&pg=RA1-PA303 Journal of the Vermont General Assembly], published by Chauncey Goodrich (Burlington), 1852, page 303</ref>
Needham was selected as the speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1853, after thirty-one ballots.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 18, 1994 |title=Past Legislative Gridlock Followed by Upheaval |page=48 |work=Rutland Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114326731/rutland-daily-herald/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209010614/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114326731/rutland-daily-herald/ |archive-date=December 9, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Needham served several terms in the Vermont House of Representatives and was Speaker from 1853 to 1854, the last non-Republican to hold the office until 1975.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120720071232/http://vermont-archives.org/govhistory/Officials/legislative/speakerlist.htm Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives]}}, Vermont Secretary of State, Archives and Records Administration, 2012</ref> He also served as a member of the state Council of Censors from 1862 to 1863.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Si9OAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22horatio+needham%22+council+of+censors&pg=PA109 Journal of the Council of Censors of the State of Vermont], published by E. P. Walton (Montpelier), 1863, page 13</ref>
Horatio Needham died in Bristol on July 8, 1863. He was buried in Bristol's Greenwood Cemetery.<ref>[http://midddigital.middlebury.edu/cemeteryindexes/GreenwoodLates.xls Burial records, Greenwood Cemetery], Middlebury College Cemetery Indexes</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Oscar L. Shafter}} {{s-ttl|title=Free Soil nominee for Governor of Vermont|years=1849}} {{s-aft|after=Lucius Benedict Peck}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before=Thomas E. Powers |title=Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives | years=1853–1854 | after=George W. Grandey}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Needham, Horatio}} Category:1796 births Category:1863 deaths Category:People from Whiting, Vermont Category:Vermont lawyers Category:Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly