Robert Stout

1875

Hocken Pictorial Collection, Box-030-001

Unpublished

Sir Robert Stout (1844–1930) was 13th Premier of New Zealand, and a Chief Justice. He was a keen supporter of women’s suffrage, and a strong advocate for education. He served on the Senate of the University of New Zealand, and the Council of the University of Otago from 1891 to 1898. As a fledging lawyer, he was – as rumoured - the first student to enrol on the books at the University of Otago when it opened. The claim cannot be verified, but some wit has remarked that it was Stout himself who instigated this ‘fact’. Here is the young lawyer-student about 1875.