BATHGATE, JOHN (1809-86) was born at Edinburgh, the son of a school teacher, educated at the High School and completed his legal studies at the University. Meanwhile he was articled to Dymock, a writer, and also spent some time in the office of a factor and estate agent in Renfrewshire. On being admitted in 1835 as a solicitor, or writer, he went to Peebles to practise, his father having moved there in the course of his duties. Bathgate soon had a good business and was appointed procurator fiscal for the county (1844). For many years he was town clerk of Peebles and clerk to the commissioners of supply. In 1844 he established the Peeblesshire Monthly Advertiser and Tweedside Journal. He took a great interest in all social movements and was especially active in the promotion of the railway between Peebles and Edinburgh. After years of opposition this was carried through in 1852-53. Bathgate combined banking with his other business and was local agent of the Union Bank of Scotland. When the Bank of Otago was established he accepted the post of manager, though it meant breaking friendships of long standing (including that of William Chambers, who published much of Bathgate's literary work).

Arriving in Dunedin at the end of 1863, Bathgate devoted himself closely to the affairs of the bank, and refrained from public life. He entered the volunteer movement as a captain in No. 2 (the Scottish) company, from which he retired as major. One of his first public activities was the formation of the Dunedin Waterworks Co. In 1867 Bathgate resigned from the bank, and early in 1868 he was appointed managing director of the Otago Daily Times and Witness Co. He was for some months editor of The Times. In 1870 he was appointed provincial trustee in bankruptcy, and in the same year he was admitted a barrister and solicitor, and commenced to practise. Towards the end of 1870 he yielded to his impulse towards politics by contesting the Dunedin seat in the Provincial Council against H. S. Fish. Though defeated then, he won a seat in Parliament for Dunedin City in Jan 1871, at the head of the poll. In the following year he became Minister of Customs, Justice and Stamps in the Waterhouse Government. A few weeks later he transferred the first portfolio to Reynolds, but he held the others in the reconstructed ministry under Fox until Feb 1874, when he resigned his seat in the House to accept appointment as district judge and resident magistrate in Dunedin.

In 1875 Bathgate assisted Thomas Bracken in founding the Saturday Advertiser, of which he was business manager. In provincial politics he had felt very strongly on the goldfields dispute with the general Government in the late sixties, and once declared publicly that he favoured separation, and would even take command of the Scottish company and seize the customhouse. He was in the Provincial Council, 1871-74 (defeating E. B. Cargill in 1873). From the middle of 1871 until the end of 1872 he was a member of the Reid executive. Bathgate held the position of district judge until 1880, when increasing deafness caused him to take extended leave and visit the Old Country. There he was an active agent in the canvass for emigrants, and had considerable success. He published in Edinburgh a book on New Zealand; Its Resources and People, and in Chambers's Journal a series of letters and talks. Bathgate took advantage of his visit also to organise the New Zealand Mortgage and Investment Association, of which he was manager 1881-85. Shortly after returning to Otago he was again in political life.

In 1881 Bathgate was elected to represent Roslyn in Parliament, but he was defeated at the next general election by A. H. Ross. A year later he was called to the Legislative Council, of which body he was an active member until his death. Bathgate's political views were democratic; in some ways advanced. He took a sympathetic interest in the welfare of the working classes, and believed strongly in a state bank. On the latter subject he gave public addresses and published a pamphlet (1884). In 1886 he succeeded by 12 votes to 11 in carrying a favourable resolution in the Legislative Council. Sanguine in temperament, felicitous and vigorous in speech, he had a fund of humour and a wide knowledge of men and events. In 1883 he published an illustrated guide to Dunedin and the province. He was on the council of Otago University (1876-86).

Bathgate married first (1841) a daughter of Dr Anderson, of the 92nd Highlanders, and second, a daughter of James McLaren, tea merchant, of Edinburgh. He died on 21 Sep 1886.

Otago P.C. Proc.; N.Z.P.D.; Hocken; McIndoe; Thompson, Short Hist. Univ. of Otago; Cycl. N.Z., iv; Saturday Advertiser, 5 Jul, 27 Dec 1879; Otago Daily Times, 28, 30 Jun 1879, 22 Sep 1886, 19 Sep 1980 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 40

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