John Shand

This is one of two houses which was designed for Shand and the other original professors at Otago by Maxwell Bury. The houses are today known as Scott/Shand House and Black/Sale House. Shand was quiet and retiring while his neighbour, George Sale, was more boisterous. Shand would riddle the grate of his fire at 10 pm each night to warn Sale that he was going to bed. John Shand (22 January 1834 – 30 November 1914) was a New Zealand university professor, educationalist and administrator. He was one of the three foundation professors at the University of Otago.

Early life Shand was born in Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland, in 1834. He was educated at Elgin Academy and the University of Aberdeen, from which he graduated as a Master of Arts in 1854. He held the position of mathematical master for nine years at the Ayr Academy and then a similar position at the Edinburgh Academy. On 8 February 1871, he married Annie Bell at Glasgow.

He became a member of the Senate in 1877. He sat on the Otago Education Board from 1876 to 1896, and was chairman from 1882 to 1885. He served on the High Schools Board of Governors from 1878 to 1890 and 1898 to 1904. In 1889 the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him. Following his retirement from Otago in 1913, Shand was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1914 New Year Honours.

Shand died on 30 November 1914 at Dunedin, about a year after his retirement,