SHARLAND, JAMES CRAGG (1819-87) was born in Devon, educated there and apprenticed to a chemist. He came to Taranaki about 1847 and for some years conducted a prosperous business in New Plymouth. He was chairman of the town board and represented New Plymouth in the Provincial Council (1857-61, 1864-66). In 1859 he visited England. On his return with a large shipment of stock, he found the town almost in a state of siege and his family lodging in a warehouse after leaving their home at Brooklands, which had been damaged by hostile natives in Mar 1860. Sharland went on to Nelson with his stock, realised it there and returned to Taranaki, where he remained until the middle sixties. In 1866 he was a provisional director of the Taranaki Petroleum Co. After the war he visited Hokitika and Thames, spending a few months in business in each of these places. Finally, about 1866, he settled in Auckland, purchasing the chemical business of J. N. Manning, which under his management developed into a prosperous undertaking. In 1883 he stood for the town board. In 1886 the wholesale and importing business was formed into a limited company (Sharland and Co.) and he retired. Sharland died on 23 Jul 1887.

Taranaki P.C. Proc.; N.Z. Herald, 14 Dec 1883, 25 Jul 1887; Pharmaceutical Jour. of N.Z., Sep 1983 (p).

Reference: Volume 2, page 150

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