Richard Denis Meagher KCSG (11 January 1866 – 17 September 1931) was an Australian solicitor and was the first Labor Lord Mayor of Sydney, serving from 1916 to 1917.

[1] On the strength of Meagher's defence of Dean, he was elected as the member for Sydney-Phillip in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in July 1895.

Although Dean's confession to his lawyer was a matter of solicitor-client privilege, Salomons found himself compelled to pass on this information to the Attorney General, Jack Want.

On 24 September, Dean petitioned Parliament to clear his name and next day Want read Salomons' account of Meagher's conversation to the House.

On 8 October, Meagher confessed and resigned from Parliament, saying "I am determined to endure mental torture no longer, nor to stifle the voice of truth … This awful lesson of my life I will endeavour to atone for in another clime".

He was defeated as an independent labor candidate in 1917, but Premier William Holman appointed him to the New South Wales Legislative Council in May 1917.

In February, Meagher resigned from the Legislative Council to run unsuccessfully for the five-member seat of Sydney.