John Anderson (January 27, 1855 – November 8, 1930) was a businessman, politician, and a city councillor of

St. John's City Council St. John's City Council has been the governing body of the city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Since 1888, St. John's city council has governed under the Colony of Newfoundland, the Dominion of Newfoundland and since 1949, Canada. Th ...

and member of the

Newfoundland House of Assembly The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is the unicameral deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It meets in the Confederation Building in St. Jo ...

. He was instrumental in the passing of the

Daylight Saving Act of 1917 The Daylight Saving Act of 1917 was enacted by the Dominion of Newfoundland to adopt daylight saving time (DST), thus making it one of the first jurisdictions in North America to do so, only a year after the United Kingdom on May 21, 1916. DST was n ...

. Anderson was born in

Saltcoats Saltcoats ( gd, Baile an t-Salainn) is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages al ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and educated at Saltcoats Academy. He came to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in 1875 and joined the firm of James Baird in St. John's. He served on St. John's City Council from 1900 to 1904 and was elected to the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

around the same time. Anderson became fascinated with the idea of

daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...

(DST) after meeting

William Willett William Willett (10 August 1856 – 4 March 1915) was a British builder and a promoter of British Summer Time. Biography Willett was born in Farnham, Surrey, and educated at the Philological School. After some commercial experience, he ent ...

who had been promoting it in England. His advocacy for the bill to enact DST earned the

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...

''Anderson's Time.'' Newfoundland became the first jurisdiction in North America to adopt DST. Anderson was the father of theater producer and screenwriter

John Murray Anderson John Murray Anderson (September 20, 1886 – January 30, 1954) was a Canadian theatre director and producer, songwriter, actor, screenwriter, dancer and lighting designer, who made his career in the United States, primarily in New York City and ...

and playwright Captain

Hugh Abercrombie Anderson Captain Hugh Abercrombie Anderson MBE (10 February 1890 – 9 November 1965) was a Newfoundland writer. Born in St. John's, Anderson was the son of politician John Anderson. Following an education at Bishop Feild College and Edinburgh Academy ...

, a member of

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

who wrote the musical ''Auld Lang Syne''.

External links

*
History of Daylight Saving TimeInformation on Anderson in article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, John 1855 births 1930 deaths Newfoundland Colony people St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador city councillors Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Newfoundland People from Saltcoats Dominion of Newfoundland people

See also

External links