John Henry Tait (21 August 1871 – 23 September 1955) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

film and theatre entrepreneur who often worked with his brothers

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

, Nevin, Edward and Frank. John Tait was born in

Castlemaine, Victoria Castlemaine ( , Variation in Australian English, non-locally also ) is a small city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Goldfields region about 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest by road from ...

, the son of John Turnbull Tait (1830–1902), a tailor from Scalloway, Shetland Islands, Scotland, and his English wife Sarah, née Leeming. John Tait migrated to Victoria in 1862 and settled at Castlemaine where he married Sarah. They had nine children: including Charles (1868–1933), John (1871–1955), James Nevin (1876–1961), Edward Joseph (1878–1947) and Frank Samuel (1883–1965) (later Sir Frank). John was educated at Castlemaine State School before the Taits moved in about 1879 to Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. John originally worked as a lawyer before going into the theatre. He managed Dame

Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, ...

's 1902 tour of Australia for

George Musgrove George Musgrove (21 January 1854 – 21 January 1916) was an English-born Australian theatre producer. Early life Musgrove was born at Surbiton, England, the son of Thomas John Watson Musgrove, an accountant, and his wife, Fanny Hodson, an act ...

. He later became a concert promoter. In March 1911, brothers John and Nevin, and Millard Johnson and

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...

merged their film interests in Amalgamated Pictures and became a noted theatre producer.Van Straten, F., 'Tait, John Henry (1871–1955)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
accessed 2 February 2012

References

1871 births 1955 deaths Australian theatre managers and producers Australian people of Scottish descent People from Castlemaine, Victoria {{theat-bio-stub