The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Hislop, John
Hislop, John, LL.D., F.R.S. Edin., son of Walter Hislop and Isabella his wife, was born at Pentland, Lasswade, Midlothian, in Dec. 1821, and was educated at Edinburgh. After acting as parish schoolmaster of Kirknewton, Midlothian, Dr. Hislop emigrated to Otago, N.Z., in 1856, under an engagement with the Otago Provincial Government After serving as a public school teacher for five years, he was appointed the first Secretary and Inspector of Schools under the Otago Education Board, and in 1869 he was requested to act as the first Secretary and Registrar of the newly founded University of Otago at Dunedin. He bore a principal part in building up the Otago educational system, which embraced primary and secondary schools, a school of art, a university, and public libraries. He was at this time a contributor to the Otago Daily Times, and was consulted from time to time by the New Zealand Government on educational, statistical, and other public matters. When the Colonial Education Act of 1877 became law, Mr. Hislop accepted by invitation the position of secretary to the newly constituted Education Department, and he held this office until 1886, when he obtained permission to retire. He was elected a F.R.S. Edin. in 1878, and on his revisiting Scotland in 1882 the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by his alma mater, the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Hislop now resides at Dunedin, where he is a member of the representative commission for the periodical readjustment of the parliamentary electoral districts. He is also a director of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand and of the Mosgiel Woollen Factory Company. Dr. Hislop was married at Edinburgh on June 2nd, 1846, to Miss Johanna Campbell Horne.