John White (1854 – 8 January 1943) was a South Australian painter and pharmacist.

History

John White was born in

Bath, England Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the ceremonial counties of England, county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 1 ...

and trained as a pharmacist in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. He emigrated to South Australia in 1878, and set up a chemist's shop on Rundle Street,

Kent Town Kent Town is an inner suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters. History Kent Town was named for Dr. Benjamin Archer Kent (1808 – 25 November 1864), a medical practitioner of Walsall, Staf ...

, and was in partnership with Philip John Evans as chemists of The Parade, Norwood until April 1888. He purchased the retail arm of F. H. Faulding & Co., and set up pharmacies in Graves Street, Kadina from 1919, operated by his son H. G. White, and at

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located a ...

. He was a member of

George Brookman Sir George Brookman KBE (15 April 1850 – 20 June 1927) was a South Australian businessman who made a fortune from a gold discovery in Western Australia, and is remembered as a generous benefactor of the South Australian School of Mines and Ind ...

's original Coolgardie Goldmining Prospecting Company Limited, and made a fortune in the

gold mines Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He retired in 1899, leaving W. J. Burton as manager of the business.

Painting

He was highly respected as a fine amateur painter and connoisseur, judge and lecturer. He was a founding member of the Adelaide Easel Club in 1892, and its treasurer from 1899. He joined the

South Australian Society of Arts The South Australian Society of Arts was a society for artists in South Australia, later with a royal warrant renamed The Royal South Australian Society of Arts in 1935. History A meeting of persons interested in the formation of a society for the ...

when the two clubs merged in 1901 and served as its president 1911–1914; 1919–1921 and 1923–1927. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the

South Australian Institute The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research l ...

(which included the

Public Library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

and

Art Gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

) and president of the council, S.A. School of Arts and Crafts 1926–1928. ;Works held by the Art Gallery of South Australia
''Land of the salt bush'' 1898''From the Sand Dunes'' 1899''Near the Pioneer's Anchorage, Nepean Bay, Kangaroo Island'' 1908''Swamp Lands'' 1908
;Selected works These are some works which were praised by contemporary media: *''Torrens Lake at Sunrise'' 1888 *''Joy cometh in the morning'' 1901 *''Where the Mallee Grows'' 1902 *''Where Ti-trees Bend'' 1903 *''The Great North Land'' 1905 *''Springtime'' 1906 *''The Pioneer's Anchorage, Nepean Bay, Kangaroo Island'' 1908 *''The Golden Hour'' pastel 1910 *''Sunset, Nepean Bay'' pastel 1912 He continued into old age to paint and exhibit fine works, but was no longer selected for special comment by newspaper critics.

Other interests

He was on the board of management of the Adelaide Hospital.

Family

He married Katherine Isabella "Kate" Brookman ( – 2 November 1893), second daughter of Benjamin Brookman of

Parkside, South Australia Parkside is an inner southern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Unley. History The suburb was once home to the mental health campus of the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Known as 'T ...

, and sister of Sir

, on 24 August 1882. She died after giving birth to son Howard. *Leslie Ford White ( – ) married Violet Hasheen Hall on 21 June 1904; they were divorced 1921. *Howard Gordon White (24 October 1893 – ), pharmacist, lived Melbourne Street, North Adelaide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, John Australian pharmacists 1854 births 1943 deaths 19th-century Australian painters 19th-century Australian male artists 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian male artists Australian male painters Colony of South Australia people