[6] He served on the following council committees:[6] Following the retirement of Thomas Blacket Stephens due to illness, in May 1875 Kingsford was elected by a large majority against the attorney-general, Ratcliffe Pring, for the South Brisbane seat in the Queensland Legislative Assembly,[7] which he held until he lost it in the 1883 election.

On 28 May 1885, Cairns was declared a municipality and Kingsford was unanimously elected mayor by the aldermen at the council's first meeting on 22 July.

[4] Following the birth of Caroline in 1861, the family returned to England, where daughter Emily Jane died in 1862, and son Richard Arthur was born in 1863 (both in Ashford, Kent).

They remained in England for a period and Richard, Sarah and the 3 surviving children were recorded in the 1871 census as living at Edenbridge, Kent.

On 17 April 1878, while living at The Springs, Tingalpa, his eldest daughter Catherine married William Charles Smith.

[10][11] Richard and Sarah moved to Cairns around 1883, where son-in-law William Smith was working as a bank manager.

[3][12] Kingsford returned to Cairns in 1895 where he built a magnificent cedar and hardwood home called "Fairview" on the prominent Munros Hill in Mooroobool.