Sir John Roberts

Trading in wool, using money supplied by his father, enabled John Roberts to prosper and become one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Otago. He was born in Selkirk, Scotland, in 1845 to a woollen manufacturer. After training in his father’s firm for two years, he was sent to Melbourne in 1864 to learn more of the wool trade, find markets for Selkirk tweed and buy wool to send back to Scotland.

Four years later Roberts crossed over to Dunedin and his father supplied him with the capital to establish a fellmongery, Murray, Roberts & Co., with Scottish partners. This fellmongery business was not a great success but it put Roberts’ company in a position to begin speculating in Otago wool and invest in pastoral land. By the late 1870s it had established branches around New Zealand and by 1900 had become the second largest exporter of wool in the country.

Roberts was a great believer in diversification. He spread his personal interests widely in pastoralism, manufacturing and agency work. He also encouraged the development of a wide range of Dunedin companies and was one of the founders of the Mosgiel Woollen Factory (1873) and the NZ Refrigerating Co. (1881). Roberts served on many local bodies and was elected Mayor of Dunedin in 1889 and was president and guiding force behind that year’s NZ and South Seas Exhibition. His wide-ranging business and community contributions earned him a knighthood in 1891. In 1932 he received the freedom of Selkirk. He was greatly respected as a canny businessman and a major contributor to the life of the city.

Roberts married Louisa Kettle in 1870. She was the daughter of Dunedin’s original surveyor and town planner, Charles Kettle. They had a large family together, five sons and four daughters surviving to adulthood. John and Louisa were dedicated members of the Presbyterian and Anglican churches respectively. Out of respect for each other’s religious traditions, they had alternate children adopt one or the other of these denominational allegiances and accompany the relevant parent to church accordingly. In 1890 they built a magnificent mansion, Littlebourne House, in a site overlooking central Dunedin. This was just off Stuart Street and above where the Moana Pool complex is now. Lady Roberts died in 1922. After Sir John’s death in 1934 their mansion was gifted to the City of Dunedin. It was subsequently demolished and the grounds turned into playing fields.