John Anderson was born 27 January 1855, 5pm at Sandilands Street, Saltcoats, the fifth of six children born to parents John Anderson, a cotton handloom weaver and Agnes King who were married on 29 March 1844 in Saltcoats.
The 1861 census reveals that John along with his parents and surviving siblings were living at 42 Sandilands Street, Saltcoats in the parish of Stevenston in a home with two rooms. His father was then employed as a Silk Handloom Weaver.
John Anderson was educated at Saltcoats Academy which opened on 02 August 1858 on the corner of Bradshaw Street, Saltcoats, founded by Rev. John Davidson, Miss McLeish, sister of Rev. Dr. David Landsborough and John Brisbane of Lylestone. Its first master was Mr Grierson, followed by Mr E. S. Wilson in 1869.
He emigrated to Newfoundland, arriving in St John’s on 03 April 1875 where he found employment as a Draper’s Assistant at the firm of James Baird. In 1886 he briefly set up his own business in partnership with Andrew K. Lumsden, but it was dissolved in 1887 when Anderson set up his own importing business, dealing with dry goods, millinery, boots, shoes and clothing under the name John Anderson.
He married his first wife Amelia Murray in St John’s on 18 November 1884 and had two sons with her: John Murray Anderson, born 20 September 1886 and Hugh Abercrombie Anderson, born 10 February 1890. Following Amelia’s death in 1916 he married Clymena Kaye on 25 December 1917.
In 1900 he won election to the Newfoundland ‘House of Assembly’ as a member of the Liberal party. In 1902 he was elected as a councillor for St John’s City Council. In 1905 he was appointed to the Legislative Council of which he remained a member until his death and in 1914 was appointed to the Municipal Commission which administered the city of St John’s until 1916.
During World War One he was a member of the Patriotic Association of Newfoundland, a government appointed body which had the responsibility of administering the colony’s war effort. After the war Anderson, former mayor Michael Gibbs and Jim McGrath formed the Dominion Co-operative Building Association housing project of which Anderson was the managing director and secretary. They erected 30 houses in Merrymeeting Road, St John’s in 1920 for returning war veterans and the working poor, before running into financial difficulties.
John Anderson is known in Newfoundland as being instrumental in the introduction of the 1917 Daylight Savings Act. He first became interested in the concept of Daylight Saving Time in 1907, after meeting London builder William Willet who had been promoting the bill in England. In 1910 the Legislative Council passed the Daylight Saving Bill, but the assembly refused to accept it until 1917 following its introduction in Great Britain and Australia.
John Anderson died 08 November 1930 in St John’s, Newfoundland. Anderson Avenue in St John’s was named after him on 23 October 1947. His son Hugh Abercrombie Anderson was one of nine Newfoundlanders to be awarded an MBE in the military division for their war service during World War One.