J & R Sloan

Tailors of Lambton Quay

The gold rush lured James Sloan from the Scottish village of Kirkpatrick-Durham to Victoria in 1859. After four years in Ballarat, he came to New Zealand and started a tailoring business in Invercargill. His parents and some of his younger siblings followed him to New Zealand in 1862. In 1865 he moved to Hokitika and opened a business there in partnership with his brother Robert.

In 1868, the brothers moved to Wellington and for twenty years ran their business ‘J & R Sloan’ from a shop on Lambton Quay. Running a tailoring business wasn’t without its excitement. In 1875, Henry Bell assaulted James in his shop after his refusal to make a pair of trousers for the drunk man. Henry returned and ‘instead of repeating his request for breeches, proceeded himself to furnish several breaches of the peace’.

Soon after arriving in Wellington, James married Annie Robertson. Their first child was a boy who they named Robert Anderson. He died in 1873. The following year, Annie gave birth to twin boys named James David and Alexander Walter. Shortly afterwards, she advertised seeking a girl ‘to make herself generally useful’. She must have had her hands full. Sadly the twins both died within a year. The couple did have two daughters, Annie Mary and Margaret Jane, who both lived to adulthood. All the children appear to have been born at their residence in Lambton Quay, which was presumably the space above or behind the business.

James retired from the business in 1888 and moved to Raroa Road in Kelburn. He was a member and elder of St John’s church. Annie was interested in Chinese missionary work.

James died on 21st July 1914. He was 80 years old. Annie died just a few months later on 17th October. Both were buried at Sydney Street Cemetery (commonly known as Bolton Street Cemetery) with their three infant children. The plot has not been disturbed by the motorway.

References:

(1875, May 1). Resident Magistrates Court. Evening Post, p2

(1914, July 22). Personal Items. Dominion, p6

(1914, October 19). Personal Items. Dominion, p5

J. & R. Sloan, 1868 (?), Hocken Collection, Reference Number P2016-013/2-023

Detail of above image

Sloan family headstone in Bolton Street cemetery. Courtesy of FindaGrave website.