Robert Laidlaw (CBE) founded the Farmers Trading Company, one of the largest department store chains in New Zealand. He was also a noted preacher, writer, and philanthropist. 8 September 1885
Robert was born in Dalry, Ayrshire, Scotland, 8 September 1885. His parents, Jessie Marion Kerr Crookston and her husband, Robert Laidlaw, emigrated to New Zealand in 1886.
Robert was raised in the milieu of the Open Brethren movement, accepting Christ in 1902 after hearing R. A. Torrey, a noted American evangelist.
After his family moved to auckland in 1905, Robert began working as a travelling wholesaler and in 1909 started a mail order
business, Laidlaw Leeds.
In 1914 this became a retail store at the corner of Hobson and Wyndham streets in Auckland.
In 1915, he married Lillian Watson, the sister of Henry Ironside, one of America’s most noted evangelical theologians.
Laidlaw Leeds merged with the Farmers’ Union Trading Company in 1918. Robert served as general manager until his retirement in 1945.
Robert also chaired the board of the New Zealand Bible Training Institute (the present-day Laidlaw College).
In 1910 Laidlaw began to donate 50 per cent of his earnings to charities, a commitment he kept to the end of his life.
Robert was received an MBE in 1946 and the Coronation Medal in 1953. He was made a CBE for community services in 1955.
Robert Alexander Crookston Laidlaw
Died 1971
