John Tait
John Tait (b. 1 June 1833, Lerwick, d. 17 September 1904, Lerwick) was a general merchant and Lerwick Town Councillor.
Biography
Work
John's first job out of school was working with William Merrylees, before moving on to work with William Irvine, a merchant in Lerwick. Both he and William moved to Hay and Company until there was a vacant lot where Gifford and Thomson had been based in Lerwick, and John left Hay and Co to open up his own grocery store.
He sold this business is 1873 and moved to Aberdeen, where he continued operating a grocers until 1878, when he returned to Shetland.
Upon returning to Shetland he returned to Hay and Co as a manager, and eventually became a partner, wherein the business became John Tait and Co, with the second partner Alexander C. Hay. Eventually, John's son John took on the partnership too.
His son, James was an anthropologist, photographer and guide famous for his work with First Nations communities in Canada.
Outside of work
Educator
John contributed a great deal to Shetland, as evidenced by his obituary taking up almost half a page in the Shetland Times.
When he was a young man, there was a local proposal to institute a 'night school' to help the children of poor families receive a better education. John became a teacher through this programme and was the secretary of the committee set up to lead the project.
It was while he was involved in this scheme that he brought it to the attention of Arthur Anderson, the first Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland to be born in Shetland. Arthur's legacy in education - the construction of the Anderson Educational Institute, later the Anderson High School, is well known and Anderson is often credited as the father of modern education in Shetland - but John played a significant role in appealing to the isles MP and was a crucial part of igniting Anderson's interest in helping the local children receive a better education.
Diarist
While under the employ of William Irvine, John was passed a diary/logbook that William had begun but lost interest in continuing writing further. From 1852 until his death, John wrote in the diary every day and the Shetland Times described the book as one of the best insights into the development of Lerwick in the latter half of the 19th century. Unfortunately, the fate of the book is unclear.
Prize shooter
John was a member of the Zetland Rifles' Club, which was established in 1858. As a shooter, he won a number of medals at competitions.
