James Robert Wilshire (1809 - 1860), by unknown photographer, 1856, courtesy of City of Sydney Archives. NSCA CRS 54/5. .Image Details

WILSHIRE, JAMES ROBERT (1809-1860), manufacturer and politician, was born on 29 July 1809 in Sydney, second son of James Wilshire and his wife Esther, née Pitt. Educated at Dr Laurence Halloran's school, in 1840 he and his brother Austin Forrest (1811-1889) took over his father's large tannery on Brickfield Hill, which also included fellmongering and the making of soap, candles, glue and parchment. Gradually the ancillary operations were discontinued because of lack of skilled workmen; but tanning and currying continued until 1860 when legislation forbade such trades in the city. In the depressed 1840s the Wilshires were obliged to call their creditors together, but later fully met their liabilities. In the 1850s 'when the tannery was not half worked' it showed an average profit of £1700 a ...

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Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography