Richard Twopeny

{{Infobox AFL biography | name = Richard Twopeny | image = File:Richard Ernest Nowell Twopeny.png | alt = | caption = | fullname = Richard Ernest Nowell Twopeny | nickname = | birth_date = 1 August 1857 | birth_place = Little Casterton, United Kingdom | death_date = {{death date and age|1915|09|02|1857|08|01|df =y}} | death_place = London, United Kingdom | originalteam = | draftpick = | debutdate = | debutteam = | debutopponent = | debutstadium = | height =  | weight =  | position = | otheroccupation = | currentclub = | guernsey = | years1 = 1877 | club1 = {{SANFL Ade}} | games_goals1 = 12 | games_goalstotal =  | sooyears1 = | sooteam1 = | soogames_goals1 = | sooyears2 = | sooteam2 = | soogames_goals2 = | soogames_goalstotal = | nationalyears1 = | nationalteam1 = | nationalgames_goals1 = | nationalyears2 = | nationalteam2 = | nationalgames_goals2 = | nationalgames_goalstotal = | coachyears1 = | coachclub1 = | coachgames_wins1 = | coachyears2 = | coachclub2 = | coachgames_wins2 = | coachgames_winstotal = | umpireyears1 = | umpireleague1 = | umpirerole1 = | umpiregames1 = | umpireyears2 = | umpireleague2 = | umpirerole2 = | umpiregames2 = | statsend = | repstatsend = | coachstatsend = | careerhighlights = }}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2015}} '''Richard Ernest Nowell Twopeny''' (1 August 1857 – 2 September 1915)<ref name=adb> {{Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=John M. |last=Ward |title=Twopeny, Richard Ernest Nowell (1857–1915) |id2=twopeny-richard-ernest-nowell-984 |accessdate=14 October 2013 }} </ref> was an Australian rules footballer, frequently spelled '''Twopenny''' or '''Tuppenny'''; also journalist and newspaper editor/owner in New Zealand and Australia, in which context he was invariably referred to as '''R. E. N. Twopeny'''.

== Early life == Twopeny was the son of Archdeacon T. Nowell Twopeny and Mathilde Twopeny of Adelaide.<ref name="Mennell">{{cite Australasia|Twopenny, Richard Ernest Nowell}}</ref> He was born in Little Casterton Rectory, Rutland, England in 1857. Edward Twopeny was a brother. Their father migrated to South Australia in 1860.

In 1872 Richard was a student at St Peter's College, Adelaide, and was captain of the school's football team. Twopeny spent part of his childhood in France and was educated at Marlborough College, England, until 1875 and the Ruprecht-Karl-Universität, Heidelberg, Germany.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/twopeny-richard-ernest-nowell-984|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Ward|first=John M.|chapter=Twopeny, Richard Ernest Nowell (1857–1915) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|location=Canberra}}</ref>

Twopeny returned to Australia in 1876. He arrived in Melbourne on the ''Northumberland'' on 15 May 1876 and soon moved to Adelaide where he worked on the ''South Australian Register'' from 1876 to 1877.<ref name=":0" />

== Australian rules football == === South Australian Football Association (1877) === Richard Twopeny was a key member of organising the South Australian Football Association in 1877. Along with delegates from Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Willunga, South Park, North Adelaide, Kapunda, Bankers, Gawler, South Adelaide, Victorian, Woodville and Prince Alfred College the rules of the game for the year were set.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.afc.com.au/news/2014-01-20/pt-2-the-19th-century-afc|title=Pt 2: The 19th Century AFC – AFC.com.au|work=afc.com.au|access-date=2017-10-29}}</ref>

=== Adelaide Football Club (1877) === In 1877 Twopeny captained the club for 12 matches.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197786132 |title=Football. |newspaper=Evening Journal |volume=XV |issue=4370 |location=Adelaide |date=15 May 1883 |accessdate=29 October 2017 |page=3|edition=SECOND |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He left the club at the end of 1877 to work in Melbourne.

== ''Town Life in Australia'' == Twopeny wrote a series of letters that would later be published as ''Town Life in Australia'' (1883). It compared the major cities of Australia—at the time Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide—to each other and to those in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16664/16664-8.txt | title=Town Life in Australia | author=R. E. N. (Richard) Twopeny | year=1883 | format=TXT}}</ref>

The book was hailed by the ''British Quarterly Review'' as a welcome change from the "sketches of bush life" that were commonly published about Australia in Britain at the time.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Town life in Australia |journal=British Quarterly Review |date=1884 |volume=LXXIX |page=180}}</ref> The introduction to the 1973 reprint of the book says, "Twopeny reads as freshly today as he ever did."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Twopeny |first1=R.E.N. |title=Twopeny's town life in Australia |date=1973 |publisher=Sydney University Press |location=Sydney |isbn=0424066009 |page=5}}</ref>

== ''L'Australie Méridionale'' == As Twopeny studied in Paris, he could write in French; subsequently, he wrote ''L'Australie Meridionale'' about life in South Australia.

== Exhibition curator == Twopenny was secretary to the South Australian Commissions to the Paris, Sydney, and Melbourne Exhibitions of 1878, 1879, and 1880, respectively; one of the commissioners from New Zealand to the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition of 1888, and Executive Commissioner for the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in 1890.<ref name="Mennell" />

== Journalism == Twopeny was editor of the ''Otago Daily Times'' from 1882 to 1890, is author of ''Town Life in Australia'' and of ''L'Australie Méridionale'', and was the proprietor and editor of the ''Australian Pastoralists' Review'', co-founded with Whitely King and A. W. Pearse<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181215170 |title=Life Packed with Incident |newspaper=The Telegraph (Brisbane) |location=Queensland, Australia |date=23 September 1935 |access-date=3 December 2023 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> in Melbourne in March 1891. He travelled to Europe in 1907; on returning to Melbourne in 1910, he wrote four articles for the ''Pastoralists' Review'' on his journey.<ref name=adb/>

==Recognition== He was created an ''Officier d'Académie'' in 1879.<ref name="Mennell" />

== Personal life == Twopenny was married to Mary Josephine, daughter of Rev. Albert Henry Wratislaw, vicar of Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, Wales. They married at St John's Anglican Church, Darlinghurst, Sydney, on 4 December 1879.

== Death == Twopeny died in London on 2 September 1915 of heart disease and pneumonia. He was survived by his wife; there were no children.<ref name=adb/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commonscat|Richard Ernest Nowell Twopeny}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=6856}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Richard Twopeny |birth=1857 |death=1915 |sopt=t }} * {{Librivox author |id=3419}} * Richard Twopeny, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/twopeny-richard-ernest-nowell-984]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twopeny, Richard}} Category:1857 births Category:1915 deaths Category:Australian journalists Category:19th-century Australian newspaper publishers (people) Category:Australian newspaper editors Category:New Zealand editors Category:New Zealand magazine editors Category:Australian rules footballers from South Australia Category:People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide Category:People educated at Marlborough College Category:People from Little Casterton Category:Old Adelaide Football Club players Category:Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees