John Chambers

John Chambers (c. 1839 – 27 September 1903) was a British citizen who became a New Zealand businessman and ironsands entrepreneur.

Early life He was born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England in about 1839 and arrived in New Zealand in 1866.

Steel production in Onehunga

Chambers arrived in New Zealand in 1866 and realised that the iron sands on the beaches of Taranaki had iron production potential. Work was completed in February 1883 at a cost of £500, with its first steel produced on 27 February of that year using sand from North Head of Manukau Heads under a sixty-year contract from the New Zealand government.

However, the company ceased trading after a series of events led to a gradual reduction in quality of the steel produced. Jones got drunk in Onehunga and argued with one of their bricklayers in December 1883. Jones shot and killed the man and was sentenced to 14 years hard labour. The company tried to carry on but Edmund Otway, Jones' successor, was taken ill and died in June 1884. His successor was an ironmaster from the Clyde region of Scotland, James McAndrew, who tried his best to carry on against mounting problems with the de-oxidation part of the process. Production from the iron sands was eventually discontinued, as no-one was able to produce the same quality of iron as Jones had managed, and the company resorted to producing wrought iron from scrap metal. This was a much-reduced profit margin and eventually the shareholders were left with debts of £20,000 and the works were broken up and shipped to China.

Later life Chambers continued in various other iron-related companies and other businesses around the Auckland region, including goldmining, eventually taking a position as manager of T. and S. Morrin & Son. Chambers started a company with his son in 1892, John Chambers and Son, importing mining equipment and other products; the company became a limited company in 1898.

Chambers died in 1903 in the Parnell suburb of Auckland.