James Douglas

James Sandilands Douglas (16 April 1872 – 2 August 1957) was a New Zealand plumber and politician. He served as mayor of Dunedin from 1921 to 1923.

Early life and family Douglas was born in Dunedin on 16 April 1872. His father, also called James Sandilands Douglas, was the publican of Wain's Hotel in Dunedin, and his mother was Agnes Fortune Douglas (née McFadyen), whose father Hugh McFadyen was the first town clerk of North East Valley Borough.

On 18 April 1900, Douglas married Catherine Mackie at the Leith Street Congregational Church in Dunedin. The couple went on to have seven children. At the 1911 general election, he stood as an independent candidate for Dunedin North, but again placed second, being defeated by George Thomson.

Plumbing career After leaving school, Douglas was apprenticed to the plumbing trade in 1888, and in 1895 he became a partner in a plumbing firm with James Wilson when the pair acquired the business from their retiring boss. In 1902, Douglas took over the plumbing business of Messrs Croxford and Sons, and ran it as J. S. Douglas and Company until his retirement from the trade in 1932.

Douglas was a founding member of the Otago Master Plumbers' Association serving as secretary from 1895 to 1898, and then as president from 1899, retiring in 1933. and in 1938, he finished 25th out of 28 candidates and was not elected to council.

Douglas served as a member of the Otago Harbour Board for 12 years, and was, for 14 years, a member of the Ocean Beach Domain Board. He also served on the University of Otago Council, the boards governors of King Edward Technical College and the Otago High Schools, and the Dunedin Licensing Committee. He chaired the provisional committee that launched the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, which was held in Dunedin in 1925–1926. Following the establishment of the territorial system, he was appointed major and second-in-command of the Otago Infantry, 4th Regiment. He was also a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters from 1897. His wife, Katie, died in 1959.

Since 1948, the New Zealand Master Plumbers' Federation has awarded the James Douglas Medallion to the leading newly qualified apprentice in New Zealand.