Robert Alexander Crookston Laidlaw (8 September 1885 – 12 March 1971) was a New Zealand businessman who founded the

Farmers Trading Company The Farmers Trading Company Ltd (branded as Farmers) is a New Zealand mid-market department store chain. Headquartered in Flat Bush, Auckland, Farmers operates 59 stores across New Zealand, specialising in family fashion, beauty, homewares, fur ...

, one of the largest

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

chains in New Zealand. He was also a Christian writer and philanthropist and a well-known lay preacher in the

Open Brethren The Open Brethren, sometimes called Christian Brethren, are a group of Evangelical Christian churches that arose in the late 1820s as part of the Assembly Movement within the Plymouth Brethren tradition. They originated in Ireland before spread ...

movement.

Biography

Laidlaw was born in

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 ...

. His parents emigrated to

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 ...

, New Zealand, when he was a young boy. He studied at

Otago Boys' High School , motto_translation = "The ‘right’ learning builds a heart of oak" , type = State secondary, day and boarding , established = ; years ago , streetaddress= 2 Arthur Street , region = Dunedin , state = Otago , zipcod ...

. In

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

he founded Laidlaw Leeds, a

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

-type

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing a ...

catalogue for rural customers. This later merged with the older Farmers Union Trading Company to become what is now Farmers Trading Company Ltd, the last remaining nationwide chain of department stores in the country. He married Lillian Watson, the sister of American preacher Henry Ironside, in 1915, and the couple settled in New Zealand. They were to have three children, including notable architect Lillian (later

Lillian Chrystall Lillian Jessie Chrystall (née Laidlaw; 1 March 1926 – 24 February 2022) was a New Zealand architect. She was the first woman to receive a national New Zealand Institute of Architects award. Biography Chrystall was born in the Auckland sub ...

) and toy-maker Lincoln Laidlaw. One of Laidlaw's best-known quotes is about the practice of tithing: He wrote the short book, ''

The Reason Why ''The Reason Why'' is the fourth studio album by American country group Little Big Town. It was released on August 24, 2010 via Capitol Nashville. "Little White Church," which was released in March 2010 as the album's lead-off single, has since be ...

'', which has over 50 million copies in print. In 2008, the

Bible College of New Zealand Laidlaw College (previously known as the Bible College of New Zealand) is the largest theological college in New Zealand. The college offers tertiary courses in biblical, theological, historical and pastoral studies, as well as professional d ...

renamed itself Laidlaw College in recognition of his role as one of the College's founders, and because of "his significant influence in both society and church".Laidlaw College Prospectus 09, p.4. In 1935, Laidlaw was awarded the

King George V Silver Jubilee Medal The King George V Silver Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal, instituted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accession of King George V. Issue This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir by King George V to commemorate his Silver J ...

. In the 1955 New Year Honours, he was appointed a

Commander of the 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 o ...

, for social welfare and philanthropic services. In 2000, Laidlaw was posthumously inducted into the

New Zealand Business Hall of Fame The New Zealand Business Hall of Fame is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to New Zealanders who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of New Zealand. The hall was established in 1994 by the Young Enterpri ...

Postal Sunday School Movement

Robert Laidlaw founded the PSSM Bible Discovery trust was founded in 1938 with Mr. James Rowan. Mr. Laidlaw and Mr. Rowan originally started their operations separately but within 6 months of launching learned of the other and so merged their two operations. PSSM was founded on the idea of the mail order catalogue, something that Laidlaw had successfully used to gather customers in the rural farming areas of New Zealand for his company

. Laidlaw used the mail order catalogue system to send 'Sunday school' lessons to children in these rural areas, thus creating the "Postal Sunday School Movement." This continued via post until 2011 when it was transferred to an email based system. At its peak, there were 9,000 subscribers in New Zealand and another 3,000 overseas. Countries served include

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

. In 2010 the PSSM Trust board decided that after declining rolls and lack of engagement, they needed to strategically reinvent their presence, becoming 2ndcity Studios.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laidlaw, Robert 1885 births 1971 deaths People from North Ayrshire Scottish emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand businesspeople New Zealand Plymouth Brethren New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire