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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Mr. John H. Smellie

Mr. John H. Smellie , who is a Director of the Otago Iron Rolling Mills Company, Limited, was one of the founders of the Mills, in conjunction with his brothers and Mr. Walter Stott. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1854, and with his brothers was apprenticed to the Great Central Railway Workshops at Manchester, England. At twenty-eight years of age he became foreman of the works at Warrington, and was subsequently sent to Carnforth, in the North of England, to erect and manage new iron workshops, where he remained for three years, before leaving for New Zealand in 1886. Mr. Smellie and his brothers brought out with them a complete Iron Works plant, which they erected at Burnside, and so gave another important industry to the colony. With his thorough knowledge of the iron industry, and his alert business methods, Mr. Smellie's help was invaluable; and it is in a large measure due to him that the Otago Iron Mills occupy their present high position in the industrial life of New Zealand. Mr. Smellie was married, in the Manchester Cathedral, in 1875, to a daughter of Mr. A. McLean, of Glasgow. His wife died in February, 1903, leaving three sons and five daughters.