Robert Heaton Rhodes was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 politician, who represented the Akaroa electorate from 1871 to 1874, when he resigned. He was elected unopposed in 1871.
Born in England, he followed his brothers, including William Barnard Rhodes, to New Zealand in 1850, having worked in Australia. He lived at Purau and managed properties on Banks Peninsula

Banks Peninsula

Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves...

 belonging to the Rhodes brothers. He built a large house in Christchurch, Elmwood, where he died. He was a founder of several early business enterprises, including the New Zealand Shipping Company

New Zealand Shipping Company

The New Zealand Shipping Company was a shipping company whose ships ran passenger and cargo services between Great Britain and New Zealand between 1873 and 1973.-New Zealand Shipping Company:...

 and the Kaiapoi Woollen Manufacturing Company.

His eldest son Sir Heaton Rhodes

Heaton Rhodes

Sir Robert Heaton Rhodes KCVO KBE VD , usually known as Sir Heaton Rhodes, was a New Zealand politician and lawyer....

 (1861–1956) had a long Parliamentary career.

External links

• Elmwood in 1899, now the site of Heaton Normal Intermediate