Sir John Robert Sinclair (1850 – 3 December 1940) was a lawyer and a member of the

New Zealand Legislative Council The New Zealand Legislative Council was the upper house of the General Assembly of New Zealand between 1853 and 1951. An earlier arrangement of legislative councils for the colony and provinces existed from 1841 when New Zealand became a co ...

from 1907 to 1914, and from 1918 to 1932. Sinclair was born in

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

in Wales in 1850. His father was Scottish and had moved to Anglesey in the 1830s. He received his early education in Wales before coming with his family to

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The origi ...

in New Zealand in the early 1860s. Sinclair continued his secondary school education in Dunedin and the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

, from where he graduated in 1875. Based in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, he worked as a solicitor for the

Dunedin City Council The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jules ...

, other municipal bodies, and the Dunedin Drainage Board. Prior to his appointment to the Legislative Council, he took no part in political life, but had been chairman of the Otago High Schools Board, and held several directorships with finance companies. He became a partner in a firm in Dunedin and two of his other partners, Frederick Chapman and

William Cunningham MacGregor William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

later became judges of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. He was a member of a number of organisations, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Otago Acclimatisation Society, the Athenaeum Committee, the Dunedin Horticultural Society, the Arts Society, and the Amenities and Town Planning Society. He was appointed to the Legislative Council on 22 January 1907 and served until the end of the expiry of his seven-year term on 21 January 1914; and 7 May 1918 to 6 May 1925 then 7 May 1925 to 6 May 1932 when his term ended. He was appointed by the

Liberal Government Liberal government may refer to: Australia In Australian politics, a Liberal government may refer to the following governments administered by the Liberal Party of Australia: * Menzies Government (1949–66), several Australian ministries under S ...

, then the Reform Government. He represented New Zealand on the Dominions Royal Commission from 1912 to 1917. He was knighted in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...

, and the king passed the letters patent on 6 February 1918. He died on 3 December 1940, aged 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, John Robert 1850 births 1940 deaths Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council New Zealand Liberal Party MLCs Reform Party (New Zealand) MLCs Politicians from Dunedin People from Anglesey University of Otago alumni 19th-century New Zealand lawyers New Zealand Knights Bachelor British emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand lawyers