ROLLAND, JAMES (1802-89) was born at Wester Luscar, Fifeshire, the second son of a privy councillor for Scotland. He belonged to the Rollands of Gask, who suffered for their convictions at the time of the two most important religious movements in Scotland. James was a writer to the signet, and after retiring from his legal practice in Edinburgh came to New Zealand in the Alpine (1859) in the hope of finding prospects for his sons. He bought land in the Clutha district, his first permanent home being Gask Lodge on the banks of the Clutha, near Kaitangata. In 1862 Rolland purchased the Blackstone Hill station, 30 miles from Naseby, where in 1865 he was running 12,000 sheep. In 1865 he was called to the Legislative Council, but in the following year he decided to return to Scotland, and transferred his estate to his sons Adam and Henry. He lived in Edinburgh until his death on 20 Nov 1889. His wife, a daughter of Captain W. Stothert, of the Coldstream Guards, died in 1861.

Parltry Record; Otago Witness, 24 Feb 1931; Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Don.

Reference: Volume 2, page 128

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