Roy Terrace

John Richard Barton Roy was born in 1855 at Trentham, near Wellington. John was educated at Otago Boys' High School and Nelson College. Upon leaving school John trained in Nelson for the legal profession and was admitted to the Supreme Court in Dunedin in 1876.  After qualifying, John practiced for a short time in Hāwera, shifting to New Plymouth in 1879. After practicing law by himself John went into partnership with his father-in-law, William Halse. The partnership ended after three years as Halse, in debt after some creative accounting, died suddenly in 1882.

J. B. Roy, as he was known, was a civically minded man holding positions on the boards of the Moturoa Petroleum Company, the Freemasons, the Philharmonic Society, the New Plymouth High School Board, Waitara Freezing Works, New Plymouth Conciliation Board, the Horticultural Society and also the New Plymouth Polynesian Society. As well as serving on many and varied boards, John was Mayor of New Plymouth in 1888, and between 1894-1897 was a councillor of the borough.

John gave up his legal career in 1922, after a later legal partnership with J.C. Nicholson. He died in 1926, survived by three daughters and a son.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.