Background
Orchard was born at Cockatoo, near Maryborough, Victoria, to Cornish parents John Henry Orchard, a blacksmith, and his wife Alicia, née Thomas.
Orchard was born at Cockatoo, near Maryborough, Victoria, to Cornish parents John Henry Orchard, a blacksmith, and his wife Alicia, née Thomas.
In the 1870s he moved with his family to Sydney. He spent four years as a travelling jewellery salesman in rural New South Wales. He later became a watchmaker and established a jewellery store in George Street, Sydney in 1901, which became a public company in 1913 as R. B. Orchard Limited.
Orchard ran unsuccessfully for the Sydney Municipal Council in 1909 and the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Hawkesbury in 1911.
He joined Billy Hughes" Nationalist government in 1917 and was appointed an Honorary Minister with responsibility for recruiting from March 1918 to January 1919.
He retired from politics at the November 1919 election. Orchard was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920.
He ran unsuccessfully as a Nationalist for the seat of East Sydney at the 1925 election, and for the Senate in 1928 election. He was a commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission from its foundation in 1932 until 1939.