Nathanael Chalmers was born in Rothesay on 22 August 1830. He was a New Zealand pastoralist, explorer, politician, planter, sugar miller and magistrate. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Fiji from 1879 to 1883. Chalmers was the first European to see the South Island of New Zealand inland lakes of Wakatipu, Wanaka and Hāwea as well as the valleys of the Upper Clutha River. He died on 2 December 1910.
Thomas Bannatyne Gillies was born in Rothesay on 17 January 1828. He was a 19th century New Zealand lawyer, judge and politician. He was the eldest of nine children of John Gillies, local lawyer and town clerk, and his wife, Isabella Lillie, daughter of a Glasgow businessman and granddaughter of a Huguenot refugee. Determined to train as a mechanical engineer, he was forced by his father to study law and trained in his father's practice for four years. He then went to Manchester, England, where he worked for Robert Barbour and Sons, with his next brother John taking his place in his father's firm. The two brothers intended to join the California Gold Rush but their father did not allow them to do so, and John emigrated to Australia instead in about 1850. John Gillies senior was so committed with various duties that his health suffered and after long discussions, it was agreed to emigrate to Otago, New Zealand. On 1 June 1852, Thomas Gillies married Catherine Douglas at Newcastle upon Tyne. The whole family, including their brother Robert Gillies, left for New Zealand on 24 July on the Slains Castle. They were soon joined in Otago by John Gillies Junior, who came over from Australia.
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